Glaring absence of racial diversity in State agencies must be addressed in a ‘Republic of Opportunity’

THE politically correct buzz words ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ have become all-pervasive now. They are regularly bandied about in discussions about how multicultural Ireland has become. Sounds great. Yet there is a glaring absence of any racial diversity in State-funded organisations like An Garda Síochána, RTÉ, Dáil Éireann and many other organisations, including schools and colleges. And we should be asking why? The term diversity relates to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age and other criteria.

The absence of racial diversity in Government-funded agencies is at odds with the patterns of immigration to this country during the last couple of decades.

We need Government to remedy this and to lead by good example.

There has been a huge influx of people coming to settle in Ireland, and not just in the big cities.

This needs to be reflected in the recruitment policies of State organisations and the private sector, right across the State.

Young, ethnically different children growing up here need positive role models from people who look like themselves.

Children need role models that they can look up to and hope to emulate, from their own communities.

The total absence of any ethnic diversity within RTÉ has been given scant attention. By comparison, pay parity for women there was afforded huge coverage.

The fact that the media itself is largely white is most probably a factor here. And this needs to change.

Importantly, it seems that there is no plan within RTÉ, a State-funded organisation, to remedy the total absence of racial diversity on screen or on the payroll.

Now there should truly be an outcry about that.

Media, by definition, needs to be diverse in order to be relevant. So does advertising.

The lack of women in the Dáil has also been covered fairly extensively in the media.

The Women for Election group is addressing this issue.

As a woman, I am of course delighted by that, but I do hope that they will train women who are not white skinned also.

Currently there is no ethnicity in Dáil Éireann, with the exception of Leo Varadkar (pictured) himself

who, although raised in Ireland, is mixed race.

An almost completely white parliament is not representative of our increasingly multicultural society.

WE have the ludicrous situation where there is no racial diversity in An Garda Síochána.

An editorial in the latest issue of ‘The Garda Review’, the official magazine of The Garda Representative Association (GRA), says that recruitment in the Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) community is “conspicuous by its absence”.

Interpreters have to be employed to communicate with people from these communities. This is not good policing practice.

The lack of Arabic speakers in the force has recently been highlighted as a major issue in terms of dealing with potential terror threats.

Primary schoolteachers here are obliged to teach Irish.

There should be some exemptions from this rule in order to recruit from a wider group, in the interests of diversity.

Many children attend a primary school where the entire teaching staff are white and Irish, yet the students are not.

I have been in Irish restaurants where the front-of-house staff and servers, who benefit from tips, are white, but the kitchen staff are not. This is not an acceptable message.

It is noteworthy that there is plenty of racial diversity in low-paid work in retail, on garage forecourts and within the hospitality sector.

Many immigrants in particular who come to live here are highly qualified people in their own countries.

It is important that white Irish people do not opportunistically regard such people as cheap labour to mind their children, serve their coffee, wash their cars and clean their houses.

Equal access to jobs in State agencies must be afforded to all who live here. And that means equal access to education.

Otherwise we are creating a two-tiered society where rank, status and earning power is established solely on skin colour rather than ability.

And that is not a recipe for a modern, cohesive or equal society in the 21st century. Roll on that ‘Republic of Opportunity’.