Martina Anderson MLA Motion 35
Published: 29 February, 2008
Martina Anderson is the MLA for Foyle and party spokesperson on Equality and Human Rights, She is speaking in favour of motion 35 on the Bill of Rights.
Poverty doesn't discriminate along partly political lines.
A hungry child is a hungry child no matter who their parents vote for.
The cold that claims the lives of hundreds of older people every year is no respecter of party allegiances.
The one in five people who have a disability face discrimination because of their disability - not because of where they place their 'x' on polling day.
It is that cold, stark reality of life which demonstrates how a strong, inclusive and enforceable Bill of Rights will help enshrine the rights of all our people. Creed, class, colour, gender, politics simply doesn't come into it.
We are a society emerging from conflict, dealing with a legacy of division, poverty and under-development.
And while there are very important human rights laws already in place, these are essentially minimal. We need to build upon them and create a Bill of rights that reflects the reality of life on our streets and this must inform the thinking of the development for the All Ireland Charter of Rights to ensure the maximum and equivalent protection and promotion of rights throughout Ireland.
For those who still harbour doubts about the rationale for a Bill or who are not taking the necessary steps to ensure that the COR is developed and enforced I urge them to look at the reality of poverty on this island.
Across Ireland over half a million children live in poverty. That is a scandal. Those children live - or perhaps survive is a better word - in all constituencies.
From the Shankill to the Falls, the Bogside to the Fountain, Ballymun to Bandon poverty is an abiding issue.
Whatever political ideology one supports tends to become irrelevant when your child is going to bed hungry or going to school without a decent pair of shoes.
So let's support a Bill of Rights. Let's create the demand among all our people for a Bill that can deliver real change. And let's give our children the Better Future they're entitled to.
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