SDLP MLA for North Belfast Alban Maginness has said a report released by the Participation and the Practice of Rights organisation (PPR) demonstrates that religious inequality in housing is still alive and well.

Mr Maginness said that the Department for Social Development and the Housing Executive must make tackling housing inequality an immediate priority.

Mr Maginness said: "I welcome the publication of the PPR report which casts an interesting reflection on the continued inequality in new housing provision for the Catholic Community in North Belfast.

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"There is now a compelling need for the Housing Executive and the Department of Social Development to look at further Housing Development around Girdwood and other possibilities.

"The inequality in housing allocation has not been confined to religious discrimination or indeed North Belfast. There are other worrying examples of inequality which the Housing Executive must address as a matter of urgency.

"Only last week a member of the judiciary, Mr Justice Horner directly criticised some board members at St Matthew's Housing Association, including Sinn Féin’s former Deputy Mayor of Belfast, Joe O’Donnell for displaying nepotism and failing to declare a conflict of interest.

"In the 1970s the SDLP insisted that local Councils should lose housing if they were engaging in discriminatory practices. The Chief Executive of the Housing Executive must put in place measures which prevent any return to the unacceptable levels of inequality we have seen in the past."

(CD/IT)