NOT ALLOWING CITIZENS from the Republic of Ireland to take up jobs in the Northern Ireland civil service was illegal, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) warned in 2004.
During a review of the Good Friday Agreement over 20 years ago, the SDLP sought legal advice on the issue.
In a letter to then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen on 7 January 2004, SDLP MLA Sean Farren noted that he sought legal advice on the matter while he was Minister for Finance and Personnel.
At the time, a number of Irish people had been barred from applying for senior jobs in civil service departments due to their nationality.
The legal advice, from the NI civil service’s own legal advisors, “unambiguously concluded that the exclusion of southern nationals was illegal”, Farren wrote.
“Despite this, Irish nationals continue to be excluded by the direct rule administration.”
In the letter, he told Cowen: “The reality is that the civil service is operating an illegal “no Irish need apply” policy which runs contrary to the Good Friday Agreement.
“It is also a nonsense when Irish citizens such as myself and Brid Rodgers were able to serve as Ministers.”
Farren said he had raised the issue with numerous politicians – including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and then-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy – “all to no avail”.
“We have merely been told that new legislation will reform the nationality laws. However, the British Government does not appear to be giving any priority whatsoever to doing-this.
In any event, Irish nationals should not have to wait. Their exclusion is illegal – and should be dropped straight away.
Farren asked Cowen if he could raise the matter at an upcoming meeting of the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference. The issue was indeed discussed at a BIIGC meeting in Farmleigh in Dublin on 22 January 2004.
A previously confidential memo discussing talking points ahead of the meeting notes: “The question of the admission of sole Irish citizens to public service posts in the Northern Ireland civil service has been an issue of concern for many years.”
The document also states that, since the Good Friday Agreement, the SDLP had been “pressing the British Government to introduce legislation in Westminster to allow Irish citizens to join the Northern Ireland Civil Service at senior grades”.
The file notes that legislation to deal with the issue “was blocked by the Conservatives and ran out of parliamentary time”.
The Bill was reintroduced but was “likely to again be blocked… by the Conservatives”.
The document states that recent statistics showed that, out of a total of 51 senior civil servants appointed in Northern Ireland from April 2000 to March 2003, 35 were of Protestant background and 13 were from the Catholic community, “representing an unbalanced ratio between the two communities (approx. 1 in 4)”.
“If eligibility was widened to include sole Irish citizens, this could help to redress the community imbalance,” the memo adds.
A ruling in the High Court in Belfast in November 1996 paved the way for citizens of the Republic to be eligible to apply for more jobs in the Northern Ireland civil service.
As reported by the Irish Times, Mr Justice Girvan found that the Civil Service Commission discriminated against three women and a man, all citizens of the Republic, by declaring them ineligible for appointment to posts in the public service on the grounds of their nationality.
The issue was addressed as part of the Good Friday Agreement, but incidents of people being excluded from certain roles were still reported in subsequent years. Eventually, the issue was resolved and sole Irish citizens were (and still are) allowed to apply for jobs in the North’s civil service.
In general, State Papers – official documents from Government departments and the President’s Office – are declassified and released to the public 30 years after the fact.
However, some records are released before or after that timeframe for various reasons. For example, records related to the peace process in Northern Ireland are now typically released after 20 years.
State Papers reference number: 2024/112/15
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