NORTHERN IRELAND FINANCIAL DIVIDE REPORT

Early day motion 551, tabled 11 December 2007 by David Anderson (Labour). Signed by 10 members.

That this House regrets the decision to erect a heavy-grade 25 feet tall security fence in the playground of Hazelwood Integrated Primary School in North Belfast at a cost of £250,000; urges a full review of the security fence at Hazelwood a year after its construction to ensure this temporary measure does not join so many others in becoming permanent; believes that the cost of the Hazelwood fence is a sad symbol of wider costs of sectarianism in Northern Ireland; notes that in 2006 the Government commissioned Deloitte to produce a report entitled Research into the Financial Cost of the Northern Ireland Divide and that the report of April 2007 revealed that almost £1.5 billion on policing, education, housing, health and other provisions is spent annually from the public purse on duplicated services; and urges policy-makers to encourage and facilitate integrated education, particularly in teacher training, as well as collaboration between different school sectors as part of concerted and longer-term efforts to foster reconciliation and understanding between different communities in Northern Ireland and save public money.

Signatures by party: Labour 9, Conservative 1.