Beorn
12-06-2010, 07:04 PM
Pressure is growing for the Scottish Government to publish details of sectarian attacks after the Roman Catholic Church described attempts to tackle the problem as “facile”.
The call comes after a row over anti-Catholic e-mails sent within the offices of the Scottish Football Association on the day of the Pope’s visit. The outcry led to the resignation of Hugh Dallas, Scotland’s top referee. Another worker sacked over the incident has received death threats.
A Sunday newspaper yesterday reported that former football coach Marco McIntyre has told friends he is considering leaving Glasgow after being warned he would be killed in revenge for his role in the e-mail controversy.
The Crown Office publishes the number of offences aggravated by sectarianism but does not provide details of the victims’ religion. Peter Kearney, the head of the Catholic Church media office, said: “It’s like giving someone a prescription without diagnosing the illness first.”
The call for more details was backed by Michael MacMahon, MSP for Hamilton North. “The sectarian problem in Scotland is more insidious now than it has ever been but none of the strategies will work unless the problem is identified first,” he said.
An independent analysis of sectarian crime published in 2008 revealed that 66 per cent of victims were Catholic. Official figures show there were 291 convictions in Scotland between 2008 and 2009 for sectarian crimes.
Mr Kearney said: “Until the problem is clearly identified, none of the anti-sectarian initiatives will work .Some of the existing education on anti-sectarianism is facile in the extreme.”
The Catholic Church is writing to all the Premier league football clubs in Scotland offering to send priests who have been the victims of verbal and physical assaults to speak to players and staff to explain the impact anti-sectarian behaviour can have.
The Church decided to set up its own training initiative after becoming frustrated with the existing programmes.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on how information about religiously aggravated crimes is recorded. However, we would welcome any discussions with them on how this information can be developed in future.”
Source (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article2833822.ece)
The call comes after a row over anti-Catholic e-mails sent within the offices of the Scottish Football Association on the day of the Pope’s visit. The outcry led to the resignation of Hugh Dallas, Scotland’s top referee. Another worker sacked over the incident has received death threats.
A Sunday newspaper yesterday reported that former football coach Marco McIntyre has told friends he is considering leaving Glasgow after being warned he would be killed in revenge for his role in the e-mail controversy.
The Crown Office publishes the number of offences aggravated by sectarianism but does not provide details of the victims’ religion. Peter Kearney, the head of the Catholic Church media office, said: “It’s like giving someone a prescription without diagnosing the illness first.”
The call for more details was backed by Michael MacMahon, MSP for Hamilton North. “The sectarian problem in Scotland is more insidious now than it has ever been but none of the strategies will work unless the problem is identified first,” he said.
An independent analysis of sectarian crime published in 2008 revealed that 66 per cent of victims were Catholic. Official figures show there were 291 convictions in Scotland between 2008 and 2009 for sectarian crimes.
Mr Kearney said: “Until the problem is clearly identified, none of the anti-sectarian initiatives will work .Some of the existing education on anti-sectarianism is facile in the extreme.”
The Catholic Church is writing to all the Premier league football clubs in Scotland offering to send priests who have been the victims of verbal and physical assaults to speak to players and staff to explain the impact anti-sectarian behaviour can have.
The Church decided to set up its own training initiative after becoming frustrated with the existing programmes.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is a matter for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on how information about religiously aggravated crimes is recorded. However, we would welcome any discussions with them on how this information can be developed in future.”
Source (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article2833822.ece)