{"id":257908,"date":"2025-12-30T11:09:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/257908\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T11:09:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T11:09:07","slug":"censoring-sinn-fein-christmas-card-a-step-too-far-ni-officials-told-after-staff-complaints-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/257908\/","title":{"rendered":"Censoring Sinn F\u00e9in Christmas card \u2018a step too far\u2019, NI officials told after staff complaints \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It would be \u201ca step too far to require office managers to censor Christmas<\/a> cards\u201d, a government department in Northern Ireland<\/a> was advised in a legal opinion on a row over a Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> Christmas card in 2004. <\/p>\n

A declassified file released on Tuesday by the Northern state archive reveals some staff at the social security office in Coleraine, Co Derry<\/a> were \u201coffended\u201d by the card and requested that it be removed. <\/p>\n

The card was sent by the Sinn F\u00e9in office in the nearby town of Kilrea and bore \u201ca message to the effect, \u2018thank you for all your help and support over the year\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter dated December 23rd 2004, Dermot MacLennan, branch vice-chairman of public service union Nipsa, wrote that \u201cmany branch members have indicated how offended they are that this item has been on display.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an age where staff have been advised, in no uncertain terms, that sports tops and sporting paraphernalia are not permitted in the workplace, staff are incredulous of the insensitivity and lack of understanding displayed by management in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was an \u201cinsult\u201d to suggest that any of its members were not impartial, and \u201cif the card had come from the political wing of a loyalist terrorist organisation, the same staff who have asked for removal of this card would be asking for the removal of any other\u201d. <\/p>\n

According to an undated note outlining the background to the controversy, the card was displayed with all other cards received by the office, including those from voluntary groups, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and other government bodies. <\/p>\n

A member of staff and a trade union representative asked the branch manager to remove the card, but after consultation, she decided the card would remain \u201cas it was felt it was only a display of gratitude from an elected representative and offence should not be taken, as after all staff gave advice to all sections of the community and this was an acknowledgement of their work\u201d. <\/p>\n

The manager subsequently discovered the card had been removed, and emailed staff \u201cexpressing her disappointment\u201d and reminding them \u201cas civil servants, we are expected to serve all sections of the community with total impartially [sic].\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, she received an anonymous letter from a member of staff stating that the email \u201cis made to make the staff feel like bigots, however this is not the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter all we are told not to bring anything political into the workplace and yet management decide that a Christmas card from a political party is OK as a card was being displayed from the PSNI.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Department of Social Development subsequently sought legal advice, which was provided on January 11th 2005. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an \u201cextremely sensitive area but in my view the manager acted correctly,\u201d the departmental solicitor concluded. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe need to provide a neutral working environment in which both sides of the community feel comfortable necessitates the current rules against Celtic\/Rangers jerseys and other sectarian paraphernalia. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, that policy can only go so far. This was not a Sinn F\u00e9in poster or a Sinn F\u00e9in calendar. It was simply a Christmas card which happen [sic] to come from a Sinn F\u00e9in branch on behalf of an elected representative and was no doubt one of many Christmas cards received by the Social Security Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would in my mind be a step too far to require office manager to censor Christmas cards to ensure that none of their donors was an individual who might possibly offend one or more members of staff. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat is an entirely different issue from ensuring that members of staff themselves do not engage in any conduct within the workplace which makes, or could make, their colleagues uncomfortable,\u201d the solicitor concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would be \u201ca step too far to require office managers to censor Christmas cards\u201d, a government department…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,16838,955,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,954,952,47,131506,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-257908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-derry","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-northern-ireland","21":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","22":"tag-sinn-fein","23":"tag-state-papers","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories","26":"tag-world","27":"tag-world-news","28":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115808211032603493","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}