§ Mr. McDonnellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to include Irish as a category in his Department's ethnic monitoring of staff recruitment. [63874]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienIt is an overriding principle of Civil Service recruitment procedures that they should be fair and that selection should be on merit.
Monitoring in this area is based on ethnic origin and not nationality. The nine ethnic minority origin categories monitored by my Department are based on those used in the 1991 census which did not include Irish as a category. They will be reviewed in the light of any suggested changes for the 2001 Population Census.