Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee 20 February 2014
20 Feb 2014 · S4 · Equal Opportunities Committee
Item of business
Tackling Sectarianism
Item 2 is an evidence session on the work of the advisory group on tackling sectarianism in Scotland. We will start with some introductions. We have members of our clerking and research teams, official reporters and broadcasting services staff at the table, and around the room we are supported by the security office. I also welcome observers in the public gallery. I am the committee’s convener. I invite members and witnesses to introduce themselves in turn. I also invite witnesses, as they introduce themselves, to make an opening statement at the same time.
In the same item of business
The Convener
Lab
Item 2 is an evidence session on the work of the advisory group on tackling sectarianism in Scotland. We will start with some introductions. We have member...
Marco Biagi (Edinburgh Central) (SNP)
SNP
I am the MSP for Edinburgh Central and deputy convener of the committee.
John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Ind)
Ind
Madainn mhath; good morning. I am an MSP for the Highlands and Islands.
Siobhan McMahon (Central Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am an MSP for Central Scotland.
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
I am the MSP for Glasgow Shettleston.
Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I am a member for North East Scotland.
Christian Allard (North East Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning. I am an MSP for North East Scotland.
Dr Michael Rosie (Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland)
Good morning. I am from the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Duncan Morrow (Advisory Group on Tackling Sectarianism in Scotland)
I am from the University of Ulster, and I have been chair of the advisory group.
The Convener
Lab
Would either of you like to make an opening statement?
Dr Morrow
I am happy to do so if that will help, but if you would rather start with questions, that is also all right.
The Convener
Lab
It would be helpful to have an opening statement.
Dr Morrow
I will give a brief statement to give some sense of the issue. First, I would like to thank you for inviting us to this session. It is always important to se...
Dr Rosie
I will just add that we met with generosity from all the stakeholders. What has been refreshing is that although people often had very different views, they ...
The Convener
Lab
Thank you for coming. What you have been saying is really interesting. We will go to questions now, and John Finnie will ask the first.
John Finnie
Ind
Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks very much for the report and for coming along. I enjoyed reading the report. You have largely answered my question, which is ...
Dr Morrow
I will say a few words and then Michael Rosie will come in. In some senses, there is a quantitative issue about what people can access or do and whether thi...
Dr Rosie
When you ask an academic about research, they are always going to answer, “We need lots more of it,” and say that more money should be thrown at academia for...
John Finnie
Ind
As my questions evidence, I am not an academic. On the census, which you mentioned, the frequency of it might impact on your ability to do research. Another ...
Dr Rosie
Absolutely, perceptions can be crucial, because they can impact on how people live their lives. If someone is worried that going down a certain street or int...
Dr Morrow
Additionally, part of the problem of tackling sectarianism is that it cannot be separated from religious roots and religious institutions, but things have gr...
John Finnie
Ind
Thank you.
Siobhan McMahon
Lab
I am particularly interested in the section of the report on what sectarianism is not, which I think we will return to later. However, I have a specific ques...
Dr Rosie
Most people in Scotland identified themselves with a religion in the census—off the top of my head, the figure was about 65 per cent, or two thirds. You are...
Dr Morrow
As with all these issues, the balance to be struck is between a monitoring that allows us to be serious about real issues and a labelling that forces people ...
The Convener
Lab
How did you compile the definition? How was it reached? What did the advisory group decide not to include in it, and why?
Dr Morrow
Those are good questions. First, the fact that the definition is a paragraph and not a sentence illustrates how complicated it is to get our heads round all ...
Alex Johnstone
Con
When you were framing the definition at the outset, did you consider the broader spectrum? Did you look at other forms of religious intolerance?
Dr Rosie
The short answer is that we were expressly tasked with looking at intra-Christian sectarianism—the shorthand would be Catholic versus Protestant sectarianism...
Dr Morrow
It might be worth saying that part of the problem with sectarianism is that it is either too big or too small. In other words, it is either too massive to be...