Police and political leaders from both sides of the Border will join forces today to look at ways of combating racism in an increasingly multicultural Ireland.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, Irish Minister for Integration Conor Lenihan, the PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are all attending a two-day conference in Derry.
The gathering is centring around co-operation between the PSNI in the North West, Garda in Donegal and various agencies.
Garda Inspector David Murphy said he was pleased to be involved in the conference.
He said the aim was to “forge links between An Garda Siochana Donegal Division, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and community groups on both sides of the Border so that we can work closely together to understand and appreciate the various cultures in society in Ireland today.”
Chief Insp Milton Kerr of Foyle PSNI said in recent years there had been a welcome increase in the number of people living and working in Northern Ireland who had different ethnic, cultural and lifestyle backgrounds.
He said: “For many of us this has provided opportunities to experience other cultures and develop new friendships.
“Unfortunately there is a minority of people who have demonstrated that not everyone is accepting and tolerant of the race, gender, religion, ability, sexual orientation and age of others.”
He added: “Hate crimes can have a long-lasting impact on victims therefore we need an effective partnership approach to successfully deal with the issues behind it and create a more welcoming and tolerant society.”
CI Kerr said in Derry the PSNI had tackled the issue with a multi-agency Race Protocol and he was delighted to welcome onboard the different agencies taking part in the conference.
Eddie Kerr, chairman of the Foyle Multicultural Forum - set up in 2007 to work with ethnic communities - said the conference was an ideal opportunity to discuss issues such as immigration, race, policing and cross-Border legislation.
“It allows us to work with the PSNI and Garda Siochana to become more effective in dealing with these issues.
“Hate crime is an issue for this society and initiatives like this help us to understand and thus help reduce the problems created by racism and sectarianism.”
PA