§ Mr. Robert McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what consultations he had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the question of(a) amending the Race Relations Acts and (b) other measures to protect members of the Irish traveller community when in Great Britain. [38292]
§ Mr. AncramI have had no consultations with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on either of these matters. Case law in Great Britain has already established Irish people generally as constituting a racial group and therefore subject to the protection of the Race Relations Act 1976.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what is his estimate of the number of(a) different ethnic groups and their populations and (b) the Irish traveller community, who will be covered by the proposed race relations Order in Council. [38291]
§ (d) Mr. AncramThe Government's proposal for a draft race relations (NI) Order in Council seeks to extend to all individuals in Northern Ireland legal redress against racial discrimination. As a question on ethnic origin has not been included in previous Northern Ireland censuses, there are no precise figures on the number in different ethnic groups in Northern Ireland. In its consultation document on race relations of December 1992, the Government published an estimate of approximately 5,000 members of the Chinese community, 1,000 members of the Indian community and 700 members of the Pakistani community. The Irish traveller community was estimated at 1,115 in a survey conducted by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland in 1993.