BY MARK MCKELVEY
Castlederg teenager Ryan Moses is seeking legal advice regarding what he considers as age discrimination after having his application for an independent position on the Strabane District Policing Partnership (DPP) rejected.
The 19-year-old, who is Secretary of the Mid Ulster and West Tyrone Young Unionists, has vented his frustration that currently none of the 15 members are under the age of 40, stressing that it can therefor not be truly representational of the community demographic.
Illustrating this point, Ryan revealed that 46.9% of those living in the district are under the age of 40.
He said, "I think the current structure of the DPP cannot work. For a body that claims to be representative of the community, to be able to express the views of all demographics and backgrounds and create a sense of better policing, the Stabane DPP is clearly not meeting this requirement.
"To not have one member of the DPP under the age of 40 means that this age group is not being represented so the Strabane DPP does not have a balanced membership so ultimately cannot do the job it was designed to do."
Ryan said he was informed by the Policing Board that in making their decision, priority was given to community background (religion) ahead of age.
"I feel they (NIPB) have taken section 75 out of context as I was told that representation of community background was more important than age or gender, yet under the European Equality legislation, all criteria have to be of an equal rating.
"I feel by putting more precedence on community background is a discrimination against age. I appreciate that the gender discrepancy is also an issue with only 13% of the members female, but that is better than having 0% under 40.
"To put me on the DPP would still have meant the community background percentage would have shifted from 66% Roman Catholic to 61% which is only a small shift consider the under 40 void that currently exists.
"I can't believe that such a seemingly professional body let themselves down whenever it comes to appointments like this. They are wasting a fortune of money paying outside agencies to carry out this recruitment process and facilitate interviews to simply then re-appoint the same members as last time apart from one.
"I made an official complaint and am not satisfied with their response so am seeking legal advice."
to find out my position regarding what I feel is discrimination."
A spokesperson for the Strabane DPP said, "Strabane DPP are not responsible for the recruitment of independent members as the NIPB make the appointments on behalf of the local partnerships."
