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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“Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I wish to make a statement on work that is ongoing to reform access to justice. I am conscious that the withdrawal of services by the Criminal Bar Association and the Solicitors Criminal Bar Association, and the potential impact of that on some of our most vulnerable citizens, will be on the minds of many Assembly colleagues today. Enhancing access to justice, particularly for the most vulnerable, has been foremost in my mind for some time. It was the need to ensure that we meet the needs and expectations of citizens that drove me to commission a review of how access to justice is enabled across the criminal and civil spheres, and, of course, I wanted to ensure that the role of the Assembly in reviewing and testing departmental action was respected by sharing proposals here first.”
“<BR /> <BR />We will write to the Committee for Justice shortly in response to a number of requests for information in respect of the Justice Bill, including its request for a Keeling schedule.”
“I thought it important to take the opportunity to apologise for my statement being factually incorrect and correct the record. I hope that Members will accept that I was speaking during the debate on the basis of information then provided to me by officials and that my mistake was inadvertent. <BR /> <BR />One of the schedules that have been identified was provided to the Committee for Justice in 2014 on the Legal Aid and Coroners' Courts Bill. It may raise eyebrows that we were unaware of it. However, that Bill predated my time in post as Justice Minister by some time and went through the House during a period when I was not a Member. Further, the officials who managed the Bill in 2014 have since left the Department, so there was no corporate memory in the Department of a Keeling schedule ever having been prepared.”
“On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker, I want to address a matter that was raised by a Member for East Belfast on 14 October. The Member referred to comments that I made during the Second Stage debate on the Justice Bill on the Committee's request for a Keeling schedule. In my response, I indicated that a Keeling schedule had never been produced for an Assembly Bill. I have since been made aware by the Member that that was inaccurate. In raising the point of order, the Member identified three Keeling schedules that had been provided to Committees as well as a clear commitment that had been given to produce a schedule for one other Bill. She asked me to reconsider providing a schedule for the Justice Bill. <BR /> <BR />I am grateful to the Member for raising the matter.”
“The issue with the family court system is that it is, essentially, a judge-led system. Therefore, the changes in law that we bring forward in the Chamber are still at the discretion of scheduling and other things that happen in the court system. We introduced additional protections for cases where domestic abuse is involved, so that those involved could not cross-examine each other or use the courts vexatiously and to provide additional financial support. <BR /> <BR />Ultimately, at the heart of the family justice system is the child. That should be paramount in cases where judges make decisions on the future of a child. Any Member who is concerned that that has not happened in a particular case should write to the Lady Chief Justice and draw it to her attention.”
“If the Bill is not passed, that will fall until the next mandate. With all due respect to the House, given our reputation for moving swiftly and smoothly from one mandate to another, I understand why the families might despair at that thought. <BR /> <BR />There is also a specific issue with the victims Bill. We need to put the Victims' Commissioner on a statutory footing and finish implementing Gillen. Again, that is important work that needs to happen.”
“The Justice Bill that we are bringing forward deals with a lot of unfinished business in a lot of small, discrete and technical areas. It is important because a number of pieces are court-required, but it will not have a huge impact in its reach into the community. The latter two Bills of the mandate certainly do. <BR /> <BR />The sentencing Bill will cover, for example, aggravators for hate crime, aggravated offences for attacking public service workers and changes that we hope to make around death caused by dangerous and intoxicated driving. It will also cover Charlotte's law. A number of Members will be aware that the families of Charlotte Murray and Lisa Dorrian have invested a huge amount of energy and effort to ensure that we have a version of Helen's law that, I believe, is superior to what has been introduced in England and Wales.”
“I very much share the views of Enda Dolan's parents. I have met them on a number of occasions and sought to reassure them that it is a priority for me. We have issued drafting instructions for what needs to be done. The policy intent is clear, and we have shared that with the family. <BR /> <BR />For five of the past 10 years, we have had no Assembly; I cannot control that. That has been the largest part of the delay. In the last mandate, I agreed that we would do this. The Assembly fell again, so we are back to where we are now. The Bill is moving forward. I cannot guarantee what business the Assembly will schedule and what time the Committee will take — those are matters for the Assembly and the House — but I can guarantee that my Department will bring forward a sentencing Bill in line with the legislative programme.”
“The proposal for an 18-month Committee Stage creates the jeopardy that we may not be able to get the sentencing Bill or, potentially, the victims Bill through in the mandate.”
“I can reassure the Member absolutely that it will not be half a Bill. The sentencing Bill is a much wider Bill in its policy extent and size. Whilst the Justice Bill is wide in scope, it is, as the Member will understand, narrow in focus and technical in nature. <BR /> <BR />The victims Bill is much wider-ranging. It covers many sensitive issues that have been raised with Members and on which I have been lobbied to deliver. My anticipated scheme is one Bill per year, and that remains my intent. Whether that Bill passes will be determined by the schedule that the Committee chooses to scrutinise the Justice Bill and whether it wants to manage two or, potentially, three Bills at once.”
“Given that most external organisations generally comment on the policy intent of a Bill rather than its clauses, it would probably be wise to consult on the policy content of the entire Bill, which is known to the Committee now. However, if the Committee wishes to wait, as is its wont, until it has all the clauses, that will be, as already indicated, before Christmas and potentially — some good news — slightly earlier than anticipated.”
“Although not part of the formal REC project, arrangements have been made to allow male and female victims of domestic abuse to give remote evidence from the Fermanagh Women's Aid building in Enniskillen. Officials are involved in discussions with partners to establish similar arrangements in the Foyle family justice centre. The success in Craigavon and Belfast indicates that that is the way forward for the very sensitive cases in which victims may be afraid of confronting their abuser or their abuser's supporters. To know that they are attending a different location means that they are able to give their evidence in the best way possible and with maximum confidence. Going through the courts is still a stressful process, but that opportunity has certainly been appreciated by the victims who have taken it.”
“Importantly, victims have also been extremely positive, with many of them saying that, without the REC, they would not have been able to continue with their case, they would not have given evidence and the perpetrator would therefore, in most cases, have walked free. The fact that victims are empowered to turn up makes it more likely that there will be a guilty plea or at least a trial. In the cases of people who did not receive the outcome that they hoped for, they nevertheless felt more empowered by being able to take part in the proceedings. That is incredibly important to people's ability to move on with their lives.”
“Since December 2023, the Belfast remote evidence centre (REC) has hosted domestic abuse contest courts. On a DACC day, several contests are listed to run consecutively, with all victims giving their evidence from the REC. There have been four DACC days to date: 12 December, 11 March, 13 May and 23 December. A total of 18 cases have been listed to date, with 14 concluded and four adjourned to a future date. Of the 14 completed cases, there have been 12 convictions — nine by guilty plea, meaning that the victim did not need to give oral evidence, and three by guilty verdict — and two acquittals. Future days are scheduled. <BR /> <BR />Feedback, particularly from the judiciary and criminal justice organisations, has been extremely positive.”
“The roll-out will cost £134,000 in 2025-26 and £139,000 in 2026-27. It is really important to recognise the impact that the adult SOLAs have had on the willingness of victims and witnesses, who are often also victims, to turn up and give evidence in court and on their feeling supported and empowered in doing so. That often leads to early guilty pleas, which we discussed earlier. We hope that, with child SOLAs, we will be able to tackle some of the challenges that face young people, who may find even attendance at the remote evidence centre daunting. Having somebody there who can give them and their families legal advice and support as they navigate the justice system is incredibly important.”
“Preparations to launch a specific SOLA service for children and young people are now well advanced. In September, Victim Support NI launched a process to recruit child SOLAs. The application process closed on 1 October. I anticipate that, subject to applicants being successful at interview and completing the required training, the new service will be operational early in the new year.”
“Cases involving sexual crime are obviously some of the most intrusive and difficult for victims to endure. The impact on children is understandably far more intense. I have met young victims and their families who have told me directly how challenging the criminal justice process can be. The adult sexual offences legal adviser (SOLA) service was launched in April 2021, but there was recognition that, due to the greater complexity of child sexual offences, more time was required to develop an equivalent service for children, young people and their families. The additional preparation time has allowed us to engage with children and young people to seek their views on what a child SOLA service can deliver for them. It has also allowed us to learn lessons from the adult scheme.”
“I absolutely agree with the Member. The project is an excellent example of the use of a public health approach, which has been adopted by the tackling paramilitarism programme. It is about undertaking small-scale projects like this to address a specific issue, rigorously and robustly testing them, and looking to imbed and scale them in a way that works. The fact that this has been externally verified to have been successful is really important, because, in such constrained times, if we are going to put money into projects like this, it is important to mainstream things that we know actually work.”
“On completion of the project, the young people were less likely to attend the ED, engage in unlawful behaviour, be exposed to violence, and screen for probable depression and were more likely to be employed. The report highlights the complex needs of many young people, which, if left unaddressed, can make them more vulnerable to violence and criminal exploitation. It also recognised the potential for this approach to further reduce youth violence and demands on hard-pressed critical care services.”
“The Connect project, which is funded through the Executive programme on tackling paramilitarism and organised crime and led by the Education Authority, provides professionally qualified youth workers, based in two emergency departments, to engage with and support vulnerable young people aged from 15 to 25, who are often hard to reach and vulnerable to harm, when they arrive in emergency departments. An evaluation report, commissioned by the Executive programme on paramilitarism and organised crime, by Queen's University shows that 73% had probable PTSD and depression, over one quarter had been attacked with a weapon, 45% had been threatened by paramilitaries and 36% had been attacked by paramilitaries.”
“The issue of a future review mechanism continues. It was one of the more complex issues in ensuring that there were no repercussive implications. NIPSA is very much part of that conversation, as will the other unions be. It is our intention, hopefully, to be in a position to confirm that with the unions as soon as possible, whilst working closely with the Minister of Finance, whom I omitted to pay credit to for very quickly clearing the financial agreement once we had the detail in place.”
“I thank the Member for the question. I made a commitment to unions and police staff that I would work with the Chief Constable and the Department of Finance to resolve the issue of ensuring that staff are paid a meaningful rate of revised environmental allowance in recognition of the important role that they play in the PSNI in keeping people safe, including in front-line roles. I am delighted to have assisted in securing the uplift, which is effective from 1 April 2025, and an interim payment, which was paid to people this year. I acknowledge the patience and understanding demonstrated by police staff, while the issue has been ongoing, and their cooperation as we move forward.”
“The application was granted by the court on 18 October 2024. That suggests that, at this early stage, the provision is operating as intended. However, as is always the case with new legislation, its operation in the courts will be kept under review. If Members have concerns, I am more than happy to meet them to discuss that.”
“The reporting restrictions apply only in respect of sexual offences and do not prevent the reporting of a victim's name in relation to other offences that may have been committed, provided that such reporting does not lead to the identification of the person as a victim of a sexual offence. <BR /> <BR />The provision was commenced on 28 September 2023, and, to date, one application has been made to disapply reporting restrictions.”
“Section 9(3) of the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 amended the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 to extend the existing anonymity for victims of sexual offences and complainants in sexual offence cases for 25 years after their death. This amendment implemented a Gillen review recommendation as concerns had been raised with Sir John that a victim's identity may become known after their death with undue distress for their families. <BR /> <BR />Under section 3A of the 1992 Act, which was inserted by section 9(3) of the 2022 Act, an interested party can apply to the court after the victim or complainant's death for an order to have the reporting restrictions disapplied or modified.”
“However, at this stage, it is hard to see how any of the things that we are doing, whether in policy development, legislative progress or funding the front-line services, do not contribute to keeping people safe. We are not running off on fool's errands; we are very focused on core issues that are addressing the key issues that are affecting society.”
“My Department has been proactive in taking difficult decisions to reduce the level of financial pressures to £48 million from £86 million after the June monitoring round. That has not been achieved without an adverse impact on the justice system, particularly but not solely on the PSNI in the recruitment of police officers. We are also having to manage significant pressures in legal aid, and the Department's payment policy is currently the matter of a judicial review. In the absence of sufficient additional funding being allocated to my Department, extremely difficult decisions on prioritisation and service provision will continue to be required. <BR /> <BR />As always, our priority is to keep people safe.”
“I will continue to work with my Executive colleagues to ensure that the necessary funding for my Department is achieved in the October monitoring round.”
“As reported to the Department of Finance in the urgent in-year budget information-gathering exercise, my Department is facing inescapable stabilisation pressures of £48 million. This position remains unchanged. In addition, my Department is facing exceptional pressures of £227 million in relation to legal claims from McCloud injury to feelings, data breach and holiday pay. Those costs are not affordable within my Department's budget under any circumstance. <BR /> <BR />Whilst my Department has been proactive in taking action in recent years to ensure that we live within budget, we are now at the point where all options have been fully exhausted. Given the severity of the financial position and the demand-led nature of justice expenditure, there is really no scope for my Department to absorb the remaining pressures.”
“We have a recruitment campaign, which I believe is due to start this autumn. As you know, I had agreed that we should add to our complement of prison officers to ensure that prisoners and prison staff are safe in our establishments and that we are able to maximise the regime. When we are low on numbers, it is not necessarily that people immediately become unsafe, but it does impact very much on prisoners' ability to access training and education, family visits and other things, because we have to have a more restrictive regime when we have fewer numbers. It is very important for us, for rehabilitation, education and family support, that we are able to give prisoners the full regime that is available as well as keeping prison officers and prisoners safe, so we will be recruiting to deal with that.”
“Many have drug addictions and mental health problems, and that can make them very vulnerable not only to self-harm or suicidal ideation but, sadly, to natural-causes deaths.”
“I caution Members against assuming that every death in custody is under suspicious or other circumstances that may be of concern. Many deaths in custody are of natural causes, but we are not able to disclose that kind of detailed information in respect of individual prisoners until their families have been informed and until the Prisoner Ombudsman has done its full investigation and, indeed, until the coroners have reported. <BR /> <BR />The preliminary findings of the initial at-speed review will often give us an indication of whether there are any suspicious or concerning circumstances of welfare or harm surrounding deaths in custody. Much of our prison population is now ageing. Many of them arrive at us from a position of homelessness and, often, rough sleeping and are in very poor health when they arrive.”
“The Northern Ireland Prison Service takes any allegation of inappropriate behaviour by a member of staff seriously and has well-established mechanisms to investigate and respond. In the past five calendar years, 2019-23 and inclusive of 2024, 10 allegations of inappropriate behaviour led to disciplinary action and awards under the Northern Ireland Prison Service professional code of conduct.”
“We are looking at what we can do before people offend by working with those at risk of offending or with a history of offending. <BR /> <BR />We have found that perpetrator programmes often work better for those who voluntarily sign up to them than for those who are assigned to them by the courts.”
“The Member probably highlights the most frustrating thing for victims when it comes to holding people on remand. When people are given bail, it can be incredibly frustrating for victims, particularly where they feel vulnerable or under threat. What is even more frustrating is when victims, in cases where they get a conviction, see somebody released time served. It looks as though they have not been punished for what they did. When they are on remand, unfortunately, we cannot compel them to comply, because they are innocent until proven guilty. We can offer them education and rehabilitation, but, as most people on remand maintain their innocence until the court trial starts, we often find that people are unwilling to, for example, engage in specific perpetrator programmes.”
“<BR /> <BR />There was an intention for a Westminster Bill on that issue to come forward before the general election, but it fell. As yet, we are unaware whether the Labour Government intend to reintroduce some of those measures, which also included, for example, things like a specific offence of spiking. If the opportunity comes for us to seek legislative consent to piggyback on that legislation, I would be open to doing so.”
“The revenge porn legislation in Northern Ireland is reasonably up to date, in the sense that it was first introduced, I think, in 2014-15. It was then further refined, as some of your colleagues who sat on the previous Justice Committee will recall, to include threats to release private materials, which is a form of blackmail but also a form of sexual abuse. <BR /> <BR />Where further work can be done and where we have been engaging with the Home Office is on such issues as deepfake imagery, which is often not as easy to prove in order to get convictions. It can also be very difficult to detect. With the increase in AI and deepfake technology, we need to be constantly horizon scanning for what needs to come next.”
“Often, sentencing appears to be opaque, and the reasons for discounts and other things in sentencing are often misunderstood. The very language of "discount" is often very offensive to victims. We need to work through those issues in a manner that is sensitive to victims and their needs, and one of the reasons why I created a Commissioner Designate for Victims of Crime was that she would be able to, impartially and without any overtures of political interference, raise those sorts of issues in the right way.”
“As the Member will know, the decisions that are made by the judiciary are entirely independent when it comes to sentencing. However, the issue of sentence credit has been raised by a number of members of the Criminal Justice Board. The determining point is what we consider to be an early plea. Is it on the first day of the trial, which may be early from the perspective of the judge in court, or is it early in the investigation, which could save the police and Public Prosecution Service (PPS) huge investigatory resources? I believe that it should be the latter, not the former. It is important that we talk that through with the Lady Chief Justice and others around the Criminal Justice Board table. <BR /> <BR />We must also ensure that people understand the sentencing frameworks that are in place and how they are being applied.”
“Through that initiative, we hope to empower our partners to continue their essential work and make a meaningful impact.”
“First, we will all want to acknowledge and pay tribute to the invaluable role that the voluntary and community sector plays, not only in providing crucial support to victims and survivors but in bringing collective knowledge, skills and expertise to inform our strategic policy and operational responses. With the launch of the strategy came the launch of the domestic and sexual abuse small grant scheme. That scheme offers voluntary and community sector members the opportunity to apply for funding to support new ideas and initiatives that align with the strategic objectives of the domestic and sexual abuse strategy. Initially, those grants will be drawn from our ring-fenced cross-cutting domestic and sexual abuse funding that is aimed at supporting the vital work that is carried out by front-line organisations.”
“That reinforces the need for the Executive's strategic framework on violence against women and girls to be implemented in parallel with the domestic and sexual abuse strategy. My officials work closely with the Executive Office on the development of the EVAWG framework, and we are committed to continued collaboration and partnership. Our governance structures will ensure alignment and support ongoing joint efforts to protect everyone.”
“That includes work under the domestic and sexual abuse strategy, which is led by my Department and the Department of Health. That strategy was launched by the Health Minister and I on 25 September. <BR /> <BR />The interdependencies between that strategy and the strategic framework on ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG) are evident, given that women and girls are disproportionately affected by domestic and sexual abuse. All efforts to address domestic and sexual abuse under the strategy will directly contribute to the broader goal of ending violence against women and girls. However, importantly, we also recognise that violence perpetrated against women and girls is not restricted to domestic situations and that domestic and sexual abuse can also affect men and boys.”
“Every life lost through violence is an unacceptable tragedy, and I think that we are all rightly and deeply appalled at the increase in incidents of violence against women in recent weeks. All of us must do everything in our power to challenge and change the attitudes and behaviours that treat women's lives as though they are expendable. There must be a collective effort across society and government to address those issues. <BR /> <BR />The cases involving four of the recent victims are being processed through the criminal justice system. Domestic homicide reviews have so far been commissioned in two of those cases. However, there is also ongoing work under way to reduce risk and to contribute to an end to violence against women and girls.”
“We need a whole-system approach, and that is what I have been endeavouring to do, but it is very clear to me that, unless the Department of Justice budget actually starts to match the inflationary pressures that we have faced over recent years, we will not be able to continue to deliver the level of service that we currently deliver. If our budget had risen in line with inflation since 2011, there would be no extraordinary pressures facing the Department. It is because the Department has been starved of resource that we find ourselves in this situation, and, with all due respect, that is a matter for the Assembly and the wider Executive, not just the Department of Justice.”
“It would be very difficult to suggest that any part of the Ministry is not under financial pressure. As things stand, we have reached the point in the Department of Justice where, when we push down on one cost centre, another one rises. For example, if we decide not to invest in electronic monitoring, we push up the cost of probation and policing and increase the risk to the public. If we push down on probation and community-based sentencing, we push up the prison population. If we push down the prison population, we push up the need for community monitoring. At every stage, if we try to speed up justice, we push up the legal aid bill. <BR /> <BR />There is no easy fix, and I am not pretending that there is.”
“I have submitted key performance indicators, but whether they are published as part of the Programme for Government is a matter for others. However, they will certainly be what guides my Department.”
“I submitted a series of key performance indicators (KPIs) along with my key submissions to the Programme for Government. My Department set out measurable targets that were challenging but achievable. Those will, I think, form part of the annex to the Programme for Government in due course. The Executive are to meet halfway through the consultation period to discuss further iterations of the Programme for Government in relation to the feedback that we receive.”
“Protection from harm means moving upstream. It means working with the Department of Health, as I do, on the domestic and sexual abuse strategy. Money has been allocated to that. It also means working with TEO to ensure that the ending violence against women and girls strategy can be fully implemented in a way that complements the domestic and sexual abuse strategy. <BR /> <BR />There is no question but that it will require difficult decisions. Everyone in the justice system will be hurting. Members can expect to get many letters that will tell them that different aspects of the justice sector are under pressure. That is as true for my Department as anywhere else. We are carrying a vacancy rate of between 10% and 12% as a result of a lack of resource.”
“I intend to prioritise them in the manner that I always have. I want to say a couple of things. First and foremost, as I have made clear, if we are going to change the rates of femicide in Northern Ireland and tackle violence against women and girls, we need an Executive-wide approach. It requires, for example, changes to our relationships and sexuality education (RSE) in schools, which was recommended by Sir John Gillen but never delivered by Ministers. Changing attitudes in society to women and girls will require cross-departmental cooperation. <BR /> <BR />The truth is that, by the time people come through my Department, where we have made changes to the law around, for example, domestic abuse, stalking and sexual offences, they are already victims and it is, essentially, too late to protect them from harm.”