improving government service delivery to minority ethnic ... - NCCRI

improving
government
service
delivery
to minority
ethnic groups
Executive Summary 18_19
In conclusion, the Irish chapter finds that a more dedicated focus, specifically on migrant workers, is required.
Individual cases of discrimination continue to take place and need to be addressed by service providers; there
is a need to develop understanding around the need to treat certain groups differently, rather than the same;
and comprehensive audits of existing policies need to take place.
Chapter 5 provides a summary of feedback from the roundtable discussions at the conference. These were
also used throughout this report; this section focuses specifically on feedback to the conference from the eight
roundtable discussion groups on the service provision framework used in this research, namely: mainstreaming,
targeting, benchmarking and engagement. Facilitators were asked to report three key points and pose two
questions to the panel for discussion.
Of particular significance in this report is the final chapter, Chapter 6, which focuses on Improving Service
Delivery for Minority Ethnic Groups based on the findings of the previous chapters, including conference
discussions.
Mainstreaming
Joined-up Government can improve service provision
Co-operation between Government Departments and other public bodies is important. During this research,
participants at the conference and NGOs interviewed by the researchers have expressed concern and
frustration at the lack of inter-agency co-operation in relation to minority ethnic groups, sometimes feeling that
it is not clear where responsibility lies and that they are being passed from one service provider to another. This
can also have serious consequences, whereby anti-racism principles developed by and for Government are
then ignored. Where there remain striking inequalities and issues with Government service provision to certain
groups, specialised monitoring and/or implementation bodies, including both Government representatives and
representatives from the minority ethnic communities should be considered.
Cross-border experiences can be shared to improve service provision
Despite the differences between Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, similar trends appear
in each jurisdiction and this research has presented an important opportunity for cross-border learning and
sharing of experience. Whilst there tends to be cross-border co-operation for security purposes, some of which
has negatively impacted on minority ethnic groups, there needs to be a focus on cross-border co-operation for
racial equality purposes. There is a need for a cross-border infrastructure to facilitate and co-ordinate ongoing
cross-border networking and learning.
Understanding and tackling racism will improve service provision
Prejudice of individual staff members in a service provision context can result in them using their power to
exclude members of minority ethnic groups either entirely or partially from a service, or to subject them to
racism in the course of service provision. It is also important to understand that racial discrimination may also
be systemic or institutional in nature. Institutional racism is an amalgamation of factors, including the attitudes
of the individuals within the organisation. Systemic racism is less reliant on individual attitudes and is an
embedded form of indirect discrimination; whose adverse impact on minority ethnic groups was often not the
intention of the policy-maker. An example of this form of discrimination would be the requirement by some
Government service providers in Ireland that job applicants should speak Irish. It was not intended to exclude
minority ethnic groups, rather to preserve the language and cater for a minority language group; however it is a
requirement that most recent migrants are extremely unlikely to be able to meet.