Naomi Long
East Belfast · Alliance Party · Northern Ireland
“Underneath the Facebook posts to say that he had passed away, people speculated with such comments as, "Probably high on drugs", "Probably drunk", and, "Typical boy racer". There was all of that speculation. It was hurtful to the family, and it was inaccurate.”
“There are circumstances that we need to consider and be careful of. I was told, for example, that, when the issue of good character references at trial was being looked at in New South Wales — Committee members may wish to look at this for themselves — one of the groups that opposed their removal was representative of domestic abuse victi…”
“It sets out the strategic direction adopted by the Department and key partners to tackle those appalling crimes and protect vulnerable victims of exploitation.”
“The provision seeks to provide protection, via legal advice and representation for complainants, against the use of non-relevant personal material and evidence of previous sexual history being used in the court process.”
“<BR /> <BR />On the wider issue of ensuring that a withdrawal of services never happens again, I think that most of us agree that, although everyone has the right to take industrial action, no one has the right to derail and hold to ransom the entire justice system in that way.”
“Those measures will go some way towards helping to support complainants and enable them to have input into the decision-making process about what records containing their personal and sensitive information are required to be shared with the defence.”
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“I set that out in more detail, if you want to read some of the stuff that I said at Committee last week, but, basically, PSNI has informed us that there will be no gaps in legislation as a result of the repeal of vagrancy laws other than simple begging. If somebody is simply asking for money, that would be the only thing that we would be removing a criminal penalty from. If somebody is causing an obstruction or a breach of the peace or if they are harassing or causing alarm or fear, there is already public order legislation and other legislation that allows the police to deal with those situations. To be clear, the only thing that we continue to criminalise if we do not repeal the old-fashioned vagrancy laws is simple begging: that is not appropriate. If someone is hungry and asks for food, that should not be a criminal offence.”
“That would be a Dickensian approach to what we are trying to achieve as a society, and I am sure that the Committee members would agree.”
“As I stated earlier, I have written to Executive colleagues, because we had drafted the repeal of vagrancy laws as part of the sentencing Bill. I initially received reasonably positive responses, but, towards the end of the process, I received a negative response from the Member's colleagues. It was agreed at Executive that, in order to allow the Bill to proceed through the process, we would withdraw the vagrancy amendment. However, I have requested that the Committee continue to consider those matters, as it was not a hard no; it was simply that more information was required. The best place for that information to be debated and discussed is in Committee, and I am sure that the Chairman will be more than happy to do that effectively and efficiently and in the interest of ensuring that we do not criminalise poverty.”
“There may well be, but it is not for me to tell the Minister for Infrastructure what she would need to do to raise awareness. That is not a role for me as Minister of Justice.”
“The policy issue is for the Department for Infrastructure, not the Department of Justice. Roads legislation is not a matter for me. If the Minister for Infrastructure wishes to talk to the Chief Constable about the issue, it is entirely appropriate that she does. <BR /> <BR />As with all roads enforcement, the PSNI will enforce the law, where it is clear. They have been clear that, when it comes to e-scooters or other off-road vehicles being driven on the road or to other dangerous practices, they will engage young people to make them aware of the dangers but they will also enforce, where that is appropriate. Ultimately, however, the legislative controls lie elsewhere.”
“Let me say a couple of things. First, the care of prisoners' health is a matter not for the Northern Ireland Prison Service but for the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. It takes care of prisoners' health. Maybe the Member would prefer that, instead of ensuring that those people get the right psychological and psychiatric interventions, we simply turned them loose at the end of their sentence, unmedicated, on an unprotected public. That is the alternative to us doing the job properly. <BR /> <BR />I have already been clear that Northern Ireland Prison Service is not responsible for the healthcare of those in our care.”
“We have been successful, for example, in bidding for transformation funding, because we are able to evidence the change that we can make, when we have the resources, to make a genuine difference.”
“I can give one example, if it would be helpful. The staff complement for our arm's-length bodies (ALBs) has dropped significantly over the past four to five years. I could contrast that with, for example, the Department of Education, where the complement of officials has risen almost exponentially in the same period. We are doing more with fewer and fewer people; that is the simple reality. If Mr Buckley would like to take the opportunity to chat to me and my officials about the number of vacancies that we carry and why that is the case, about the challenges that we have with making positions permanent and about the extra work that officials have to do to meet the demands that the public expect of us and that I expect of the Department, I would be more than happy for him to do so, because we could show him real progress.”
“The new agreement will be the three legs of the stool: we will all have to agree to it. We are doing that work. The Member may chuckle, but, as he will recognise, there have been real pressures in the policing sector. I have a small team of people in support branch to take forward all of that work, whether it be work around dealing with the data breach, work around the review or the sponsorship work that it does in policing structures more widely. We are working through the issues at the best pace we can, but we are constrained by resource. I have been honest in saying that some of the things that I would like to do will have to happen more slowly than I would like, but I have to prioritise the things that matter most. We have just talked about some of them, such as child protection and serious sexual offences.”
“The Department has already been responding to it. We have had a series of tripartite meetings over the past year in which a number of the matters that were raised in the review have been resolved between the board, the Chief Constable and the Department. Some of that was for the board to take forward; some of it was for the Department; and some of it was for the Chief Constable. <BR /> <BR />Ultimately, the review gave a rather good rating, although it suggested some areas for improvement. Our tripartite meetings and that more regular and ongoing contact have certainly addressed one of the issues, which was about relationships and communication.”
“I can hold up as an example the work that we did with the sexual offences legal advisers (SOLAs) and the children's sexual offences legal advisers (CSOLAs). This time last year, I was able to roll that out to children as well as adults. We set aside a budget for that. It is a pilot that will be assessed. I cannot talk about next year's budget because it has not been set, but I have draft allocations that you, as a member of the Justice Committee, will discuss in detail with our director of finance in due course. You will see the prioritisation that I have given to that work.”
“It is not a complete answer, but it is one significant piece of work that we want to see done in the mandate.”
“We have raised a number of issues not just this year but every year. Many of those span more than a single calendar year or financial year. It is important that we change the culture not just in the justice system but in our society. The work that I am doing to ensure that things such as strangulation and suffocation pornography will be banned is one way in which we can start to shift the dial on the expectations of young men about what normal sexual behaviour looks like and to protect young women from abuse. As I have mentioned in the Chamber, boys as young as 10 have asked teachers how they could safely strangle their girlfriend during sex. That is already being normalised for 10-year-old boys. Sexually active girls as young as 14 have said that they have already experienced it. That is a real concern for us.”
“<BR /> <BR />It also has to be said that the schemes are not a complete solution, because we do not know every sex offender who lives in our community. Many of them hide in plain sight, and we would never suspect them of sexual offences, yet time will tell. History shows that they can be involved in some of the most heinous crimes. Therefore, the only real protection for children is for parents to ensure that their children understand the risk not just of stranger danger but of friend danger and family danger and know about their boundaries and autonomy. Parents should uphold and defend those at all times. Even people whom the parents trust implicitly should never be entrusted with the welfare of their children without undergoing proper checks and oversight.”
“As I outlined in my response to Cheryl, it is a matter for the PSNI. There are two schemes. The first allows the PSNI, where it has concerns about the behaviours of an individual and their interaction with a particular family or children, to raise that directly with the parents. It is free to disclose that in certain circumstances. The second gives parents who have concerns about the conduct of an individual around children, be it their own children or someone else's, the right to raise those concerns and seek disclosure from the PSNI. Such disclosure has to be carefully guarded, because simply giving out all that information, as I have described previously, can lead to unintended consequences, such as people being driven underground or attacked by vigilantes or a breakdown in overall monitoring, which is what keeps people safe.”
“The "own motion" review will run in tandem with an almost identical scheme that is already in place to review and discharge RSOs subject to indefinite notification requirements under schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003, but that requires an application by the RSO. Finally, there will be a restriction on the ability of a registered sex offender to apply for a prescribed replacement identity document in a new name. That will address concerns about sex offenders changing their name in order to avoid detection. The prescribed documents are immigration documents, UK passports and driving licences.”
“Those provisions include the requirement for a registered sex offender to notify police of a new name no less than seven days before using it, rather than within three days, which is the current requirement; a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify if they are entering premises where children may be present; a power to allow RSOs to notify virtually in certain circumstances but only where that is appropriate and fully risk-assessed; and a power to enable the police to review and, if suitable, remove of their own motion the indefinite notification requirements of a registered sex offender, again only where it has been risk-assessed and considered appropriate and only where it is a category 1 offender, which is the lowest risk category.”
“We are taking a number of actions. First, I propose that we strengthen and streamline notification requirements further by extending the relevant provisions of the Crime and Policing Bill, which is making its way through Westminster. I tabled a legislative consent motion on the Bill in the Assembly, and that debate is scheduled for next week.”
“That disclosure is governed by proportionality and need, but it is possible to do that. I encourage any parent who is concerned to raise the matter with the PSNI in the first instance.”
“Public safety must always come first in that space. That is why the Probation Board and others work closely with the Housing Executive and other accommodation providers to ensure that the approved accommodation in such circumstances is suitable and meets the requirements of, for example, any offender restrictions that that person may be under when they exit prison. <BR /> <BR />It is also important to say that any parent who has concerns about any individual and their conduct around children, regardless of whether that individual is a registered sex offender (RSO), should raise those immediately with the police. Where that person is a serious sex offender, the PSNI has the right to tell parents where it believes there to be a risk, and parents have the right to ask.”
“Risk management plans are routinely reviewed at local area public protection panels (LAPPPs) and are amended as necessary to maintain optimal risk management of the individuals concerned. <BR /> <BR />The Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) also manages the allocation of places for the most serious offenders leaving prison in approved premises or hostels across Northern Ireland. Approved premises help to manage risk and support resettlement and rehabilitation. The criteria for making a referral to approved premises includes offenders designated as category 2 and 3 under PPANI.”
“Suitable accommodation for convicted sex offenders is an important constituent of managing the risk in the community. The public protection arrangements in Northern Ireland (PPANI) bring together agencies including the police, probation services, health and social care trusts and the Housing Executive to manage the risk posed by certain sexual offenders. A designated risk manager (DRM), who is a police officer, a probation officer or a social worker, holds responsibility on behalf of their respective agency for implementing a risk management plan. Accommodation is an important component of the risk management plan, and guidance is in place to ensure that all agencies deploy a consistent approach to approving accommodation.”
“If other European countries can effectively manage young people, divert them from criminal behaviour and give them a better start in life, I see no good reason, with the quality of our education system, the quality of our youth justice system and the quality of our health and social services, why we cannot do likewise.”
“MACR was consulted on in the previous mandate, and we had positive responses from those who work with young people. I wrote to all Executive colleagues about the plans that we had. We responded, for example, to concerns about serious offending such as rape, serious sexual offences and murder and were willing to consider derogations in those exceptional cases, given their low number. We already have a positive working relationship with the Department of Education through the diversion forums and other panels in order to deliver the best outcomes for young people. It is important that everybody is part of the conversation. <BR /> <BR />We had said that we would review MACR after a period so that, if it was not successful, we could look at it again.”
“You need to get cross-community support. Perhaps, if you engaged more constructively with your unionist colleagues, you might get it.”
“I find it a bit rich that the Member whose party sat in the Executive for many years and never had any written guarantees about anything now holds others to a different standard of accountability. He says that we campaigned for me to be Justice Minister, but let us be clear: the reason that I stand here as Justice Minister — I am under no illusions about this — is that nobody else could get the required cross-community support to do the job.”
“We know, however, that the provision of targeted support to address the underlying issues at the earliest opportunity is an effective way of addressing offending behaviour, reducing the number of future victims and preventing lives being blighted by a criminal record. <BR /> <BR />Currently, if there is concern over a child's offending behaviour, they can be referred to multi-agency panels called children's diversion forums. Those or similar partnerships could be considered as a model to work with under the new age of criminal responsibility if we increase the minimum age. That would reinforce the message that young children who offend need help and support to desist.”
“In seeking to raise MACR, we are not saying that children's offending behaviour should be ignored or that they should get away with it. Changes would need to be accompanied by the development of new arrangements to identify the underlying causes of concerning behaviour in younger children and to provide support, guidance and help to those children and their families. Often, children who display challenging behaviour have themselves been victims or experienced multiple levels of adversity and trauma and have multiple unmet needs. Some have been groomed, some have been coerced and some have been exploited.”
“<BR /> <BR />In a draft paper to Executive colleagues in November 2025, I sought agreement on the drafting and inclusion of vagrancy repeal provisions in the Justice Bill. That too was unsuccessful, so it has been paused to allow for further consideration. <BR /> <BR />Finally, I sought the agreement of colleagues to include "transgender" in the list of protected groups under the hate crime provisions in the sentencing Bill. Regrettably, there has been a lack of consensus on that measure, so I have had to remove "transgender" from the list of protected groups identified in the Bill. I will proceed to seek Executive agreement to introduce the Bill with that omitted.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am fully supportive of removing the defence of reasonable chastisement from the law here as the effects of physical punishment of children are consistently associated with a wide variety of negative health and developmental consequences for children. As any such amendment will require Executive agreement, which, again, has not been forthcoming, I circulated a draft Executive paper in October 2024, but, despite my efforts, I was not able to secure Executive agreement to deliver change in the law in the current Justice Bill. I will continue to work with ministerial colleagues to seek their approval to repeal the defence of reasonable chastisement and move towards a position of equal protection for children in Northern Ireland.”
“I have been unable to progress an increase in the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) despite considerable support for that in a public consultation. That would bring Northern Ireland in line with the international standards, including directives from the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child. At 10 years of age, our current minimum is the lowest in Europe along with England and Wales. I shared a paper with Executive colleagues that highlighted strong public support for an increase — 83·5% of respondents — and it was clear from the limited number of responses that I received that there continues to be insufficient support to enable the necessary legislative change to be progressed. That is why it was not included in the Justice Bill: I did not want to hold up its introduction through a lack of agreement on content.”
“That is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I cannot legislate by myself. I will require input from the Justice Committee, the various people who are impacted by any changes, the Chief Constable and his senior management team, and the Policing Board. Ultimately, however, the final decision will be taken in the House, so those who are suggesting that there should be significant changes, be they prospective or retrospective, will ultimately have to decide on whether that scheme is appropriate or not.”
“Therefore, we would have to bottom all that out in a proper consultation and make sure that the right tramlines are in place to ensure that, when this is administered, it is administered fairly; those who benefit from it are able to justify that benefit; and, crucially, if somebody goes on to make a full recovery, they are obligated to inform of a change of circumstance rather than being simply advised that they may do so.”
“I believe, from the news reports, that he did indicate that to the board last week. Again, that will need to be considered, first of all by the board and then by my Department, to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest in the administration of the scheme. One needs to bear in mind that a Chief Constable themselves may be due for ill-health retirement, so that could be an issue. Also, I would not want any perception, certainly not with rank-and-file members, that a Chief Constable would be making those decisions based potentially on the cost to the organisation.”
“Once those solutions have been determined, we will have to consult, because these are statutory entitlements that people gained when they got their contracts. We will have to engage in a consultation to make sure that we are able to make those changes. Given how little of the mandate remains, the opportunity to bring forward primary legislation in this space is limited. However, changes are required in a number of areas around the frameworks for policing. My officials are working on that with a view to drafting a policing Bill in the next mandate, which would allow us to bring those matters together and resolve them in one piece of legislation.”
“In fairness, we have delivered changes to the regulations, but primary legislation would be required to deal with some of the areas that the Chief Constable believes may be being exploited. He raised that with me, and, obviously, we are not the body that is responsible for determining ill-health retirement. That falls to the Chief Constable and to the board. Therefore, we are working hard with the board and the Chief Constable to determine solutions to that.”
“Therefore, it is important, as we move through these things, that we first try to ensure that we have a Police Service that is the right size, avoids undue stress on those who work in the service and allows for people to be reprofiled and, indeed, repositioned in the service where that allows them to continue in the police without seeking ill-health retirement. It is, I have to say, sad that we are having a conversation about those who may seek to abuse a system that is there, ultimately, to protect those who are there to protect us.”
“I accept what the Member says. I am also aware that the Policing Board has received a complaint concerning PSNI ill-health retirement. It would be inappropriate for me to discuss those matters at this juncture. It is under consideration by the Policing Board, as the appropriate authority, and I am certainly happy, on representation from the board, to act. <BR /> <BR />One must also bear in mind that this matter was brought to my attention, and concerns were raised about it, when policing numbers were at an all-time low and we had no certainty about the ability to stabilise and increase policing numbers.”
“We do not want to be in a situation in which those who gave dedicated public service and are too ill to continue are forced into a situation in which they are at financial disadvantage or, indeed, are forced to take on other work that they are not capable of doing.”
“I am aware of the concerns that the Chief Constable raised at the Policing Board about the steady growth over recent years in the numbers of people who are retiring under ill-health retirement. The numbers fell fairly consistently during the mid-2000s but started to rise again from around 2020, with the highest figure being recorded in the past year. That is of concern because it is a significant pressure on public funds at a time when, I am sure, the Chief Constable will want those resources to pay for officers who are active. It is also important that those who are genuinely injured and do need to retire on ill-health grounds have recourse to that option.”
“It is unlikely that further amendments will be made during the current mandate.”
“That statutory rule provides for police officers who were active members of the 2015 police pension scheme on 1 April 2024, who were previously excluded from accessing ill-health retirement for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2024, with the option to elect to retire under ill-health retirement if they satisfy the requirements for those benefits, subject to the full employee payment contributions for that period having been paid. <BR /> <BR />It may be helpful to note that the prospective element of that reform was introduced through the Police Pensions (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024, which removed ill-health eligibility exclusions and reduced contribution rates for active members of the 2015 police pension scheme with effect from 1 April 2024.”
“The Police Pensions Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 — the regulations — set out the PSNI ill-health retirement process. Officials will continue to work with colleagues from the PSNI and the Policing Board to determine whether amendments to the ill-health retirement scheme are required. However, a statutory rule effective from 1 February 2026 amended the regulations to permit the retrospective removal of ill-health retirement exclusions from the 2015 police pension scheme.”
“<BR /> <BR />If others are going to engage in misrepresentation of what my Department and I have been doing over the past 14 months, I will, of course, refute that and provide the evidence to show otherwise. It is not about pitting one group of people against another. To be clear, it is in the interests of justice and of the Northern Ireland public that all those cases proceed to conclusion. That is also in the interests of those who are accused, many of whom are being held on remand and have not been sentenced, and of others in the community who have been grievously wounded and are not seeing justice for their loved ones in the courts. That has to be dealt with. I am not the one who is suggesting that those people should become pawns in a game about how much people get paid.”
“There are a few things to say on that. First, when I am asked questions about the situation, which is a matter of public interest, I will answer them. I will not be curtailed by any of the legal professions, or, indeed, by Members, when answering public interest questions. In the same way, you are asking me questions here that are leading me into having a public conversation about the issue. You cannot have it both ways. I am answering the questions openly and honestly, but Members will note that, when we made the offer at the start of January 2026, I did not make any public comment. I did not speak to the House other than to say that an offer had been made. I did not go into the detail of it: I did not say anything further.”
“We will set that disappointment aside and pick up the pieces. We will continue with the road map process that is already in place, and we will continue to resolve issues for the SCBA based on the evidence that it has willingly and helpfully provided.”
“Given that the Solicitors' Criminal Bar Association has, in contrast to the Criminal Bar Association, been very proactive in its engagement with the Burgess road map and the ongoing review, and without detriment to the service that was provided to its clients, I have been clear that any accelerated review would also have to take account of the SCBA's outstanding issues with the road map. I wrote to the SCBA, at the same time as I wrote to the CBA, to ask for a list of issues that it would like to be included in an accelerated review. The SCBA wrote back on 23 January with a number of asks. Clearly, now that the CBA has rejected the terms of that offer, we are in a different space. I am sure that, like me, SCBA members are incredibly disappointed, because, ultimately, it is its clients who are not getting a service from the criminal Bar.”
“I believe that those derogations should happen: they will mitigate the ongoing strike, not provide a resolution to it. <BR /> <BR />I am due to meet Chloe Mitchell's family, shortly, on the specific implications for her case of the withdrawal of service. Unfortunately, I cannot give them the certainty that they want. Neither, indeed, would the idea of derogations being turned on and off like a tap give that family certainty. That is why my proposals were that they return, initially, to the situation prior to 5 January, and then return to full service while negotiations continue. Only that will give victims the certainty that they need on when their cases will be scheduled. That is the point that I want to get to. I still believe that it is possible to do that, but it will require the CBA being willing to meet me halfway.”
“I concur with everything that the Member has said, and I am sure that she will agree with me that there is something fundamentally distasteful and unethical about leveraging people's trauma for personal benefit. I believe that it is wrong to do that. I do not want victims to become bargaining chips in this exchange. That is why I said that any suggestion that a derogation would be turned on and off like a tap as a means of moving this forward is not acceptable to me. I cannot have a situation where, for example, the defence counsel in some of those cases makes decisions on whether or not a case will proceed to court. The derogations were sought by the Public Prosecution Service on the basis of its professional assessment of the urgency of the situation. It took into account the feedback that it got from victims' and witnesses' services.”
“Mediation has not been brought to a close; it has not started. There is no mediation in the process. It is about an evidence base, openness and transparency. The dispute is not between an employer and employees; it is a dispute about the rates that the Government will pay, out of public money, for particular services that are delivered through the legal aid system. In my view, there is no room for mediation in the dispute. Mediation was suggested, but, given that we were already quite far down the road in the work that Judge Burgess had done and on resolution of the issues — in fact, further progress has been made in the interim — I do not believe that it provides an opportunity to move it forward.”