Judicial Review Court in Northern Ireland finds Executive in breach of anti-poverty duty

The Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) succeeded in its judicial review against the Executive in Northern Ireland for failing to adopt a strategy to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deprivation on the basis of ‘objective need’ (the anti-poverty strategy). Mr Justice Tracey ruled that no such anti-poverty strategy had in fact been adopted by the Executive and that they had breached their legal obligation under the St. Andrews Agreement. The judicial review was supported by the PILS Project.

This legal obligation first arose under the Good Friday agreement which imposed an obligation on the Government to adopt a more focused ‘Targeting Social Need’ initiative. This was followed by the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement which imposed a legal duty to adopt a strategy setting out how to tackle poverty, social exclusion and patterns of deviation, and to base that strategy on the objective need.   

Objective need is a concept that is intended to reduce, in its entirety, the scope for discrimination between persons in need. This is achieved by allocating resources on a neutral criteria basis, irrespective of community background or other affiliation. The Court ruled that it was difficult to see how the Executive could develop and deliver the ‘anti-poverty’ strategy except on the basis of a clearly defined objective need. This is the first time that objective need has been placed on a statutory footing and made central to the anti-poverty strategy.

This decision is an important milestone in the development of equality law in Northern Ireland. The judgment certifies that the Executive can no longer overlook this key legal duty, introduced as part of an international agreement which forms part of the peace process.

Click here to read a press statement from the Committee on the Administration of Justice.

Click here to read the judgment in full.

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