Claire Sugden
East Londonderry · Independent · Northern Ireland
“That is, gosh, almost 35 years ago, yet we are still having the conversation in 2026. If I were to speak to that eight-year-old girl, I would tell her, "When you are 40, Claire, this will not even be a consideration for you". Sadly, however, it still is. It is deeply disappointing that, when we had an opportunity, it was not taken.”
“Indeed, I tabled an amendment to that Bill to achieve the desired outcome, but, sadly, the opportunity was not taken. One of the strengths of the Assembly is that Committees can identify where Executive legislation has fallen short and produce their own practical, targeted solutions.”
“Frankly, we should be listening. Sometimes, we talk about equality in broad terms, but the Bill reminds us that equality is often about practical things. It is about removing unnecessary barriers from everyday life and ensuring that opportunities and choices do not depend on arbitrary differences between schools.”
“That is ridiculous. The point that we should all pay attention to is that of girls feeling less exposed. We should focus on that even if there were no other reasons to pass the legislation. Girls simply want to get on with their school day without having to think about something that most boys take for granted.”
“That meeting was a reminder that issues that can appear small to adults — there have been adults who have asked why the Assembly is legislating on this — can be issues on which we need to legislate. When people do not behave appropriately, we as a legislature have a responsibility to legislate.”
“Around one in seven couples in Northern Ireland experiences fertility problems, yet Northern Ireland continues to offer one of the most limited publicly funded fertility services anywhere in the United Kingdom. Couples face lengthy waits, restricted eligibility criteria and fewer publicly funded IVF opportunities than elsewhere.”
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“<BR /> <BR />The Stormont House Agreement includes measures to address a number of issues relating to Northern Ireland’s troubled past. It is the only mechanism that we have to provide some resolution for victims, and I will do all that I can to progress it. The Stormont House Agreement proposals may not give the families everything they want and will not bring back their loved ones, but I believe that they will go some way to giving them what they need. <BR /> <BR />The Stormont House Agreement made proposals covering two areas that fall within my remit as Justice Minister, one of which is to improve the way that legacy inquests are concluded and the other to establish a Historical Investigations Unit.”
“He concluded that, with the support of a properly resourced legacy inquest unit in the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service and cooperation from the relevant justice bodies, including the PSNI and the MOD, it should be possible to complete the existing legacy inquest caseload within a period of five years. Having discussed the Lord Chief Justice’s proposals with him, I am confident that they provide the basis for transforming the way that we manage legacy inquests in Northern Ireland. His proposals, which should ensure that all the outstanding legacy inquests are completed within five years, offer real and tangible hope to victims’ families that their cases will finally be brought to a conclusion. We owe it to the victims and to their families to make the Lord Chief Justice's vision a reality.”
“To make the progress that is so urgently needed, the legacy inquest process must be better focused, equipped and resourced to meet the needs of bereaved families. <BR /> <BR />The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland was appointed as president of the Coroners' Court on 1 November last year, with responsibility for providing leadership to the judicial officers who act as coroners. He immediately commissioned a review of the state of readiness of the outstanding legacy cases, and that was undertaken by Lord Justice Weir in January. On that basis, and following a series of meetings in Strasbourg, the Lord Chief Justice proposed a new model for progressing legacy inquests.”
“What struck me is the similarity of the stories that the families bring to me, regardless of their background or the circumstances surrounding the death of their loved ones. They have all suffered unimaginable hurt and loss, and they acknowledge that no one's family is greater than anyone else's. We need to listen to the voice of victims’ families and be guided by them. The management of these complex inquests is not easy, but the continuing delay is having an unacceptable impact, not only on victims’ families but on our wider community and our justice system. It is simply not acceptable that some families have had to wait 30 or 40 years to have their loved ones' deaths investigated. For some, it has been too late.”
“I thank Members for bringing the motion to the Assembly, and I welcome the opportunity to debate this very important issue. My position is very clear: families have waited far too long for legacy inquests into the deaths of their loved ones. If we are ever going to bring some measure of closure to bereaved families, we need to reach political agreement on this and other legacy matters now. I have not experienced the loss of a loved one in the way that the families have, but I have met a number of family members who have lost husbands, daughters, brothers and sons. I have seen the very real pain and suffering that they live with on a daily basis, and they have told me of the stress and anguish brought about by this continued delay.”
“We have come a long way but there is such a long way to go. I repeat: let us not send mixed messages to our communities about how serious we are. I can assure you, Mr Speaker, that, as Justice Minister of Northern Ireland, I am committed, along with my Executive colleagues, and I ask the Assembly and the communities that we represent to play a role in how we can move forward in tackling organised crime and paramilitary activity.”
“<BR /> <BR />Had the motion not used the word "lacklustre", I would have supported it because I, like every Member of the Assembly, want an end to all forms of paramilitarism. I believe that we are on the right path and that good work is already under way. I will, therefore, support amendment No 2 because it is only through engaging with and empowering communities by supporting the rule of law and tackling criminality that we will make real progress on dealing with paramilitary activity and organised crime. That is precisely what Fresh Start envisaged, and that is what the Executive will deliver. <BR /> <BR />In conclusion, I thank the Members for bringing the debate to the Chamber and for the opportunity to demonstrate that we are committed to addressing the issues associated with paramilitarism.”
“<BR /> <BR />We are also now looking at the very hard part of this work: engaging communities, joining up with other initiatives, connecting with other Departments’ plans and linking up with the Programme for Government. Whilst there is much that we can do around law enforcement and other Executive-driven activities, it is fundamentally in the communities in which criminality exists that change needs to happen. That is the challenge that we have set for ourselves. It is what makes this plan different and is the only way in which criminality can be dealt with. I hope that what I outlined provides assurances that we are serious, have made a start and are dedicated and committed to delivering for our communities.”
“We are developing a programme for women in our communities, which is being taken forward through a process of co-design with the aim of starting the work in April. We are supporting the Probation Board with funding for two successful pilots aimed at reducing reoffending. These are Reset, which is an innovative adult mentoring scheme for offenders subject to post-release licence; and a pilot of enhanced combination orders, which provides alternatives to short-term custodial sentences. We are supporting the Housing Executive to roll out community projects based on community empowerment, re-imaging and bonfire management. We are investing in scoping studies on a centre of excellence for restorative practice, and policy development on issues such as organised crime legislation is under way.”
“The first part of the public awareness campaign envisaged in section A, which aims to raise awareness about organised crime and explain the links to paramilitaries, will begin in December. We are working with our justice system partners on delivering initiatives to speed up justice, including the next phase of the Ards indictable cases project, which will go live in May, and implementing committal reform around the end of 2017. <BR /> <BR />We have established the joint agency task force, and Minister Fitzgerald and I have regular discussions via the IGA mechanism. We have also started work on developing concerted law enforcement activity, with just over £1 million being made available to the PSNI this year for work to tackle organised criminality.”
“I spoke with the Secretary of State, James Brokenshire, recently and will do so again this week. I am working with the Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Office, and we are all dedicated and committed to achieving the same aims. The Northern Ireland Office has a seat on the programme board and is fully engaged with what we are doing. <BR /> <BR />When the action plan was published in July, there was work that we could start straight away; we did that, spending just under £4 million. Money has been allocated to purchase equipment for Forensic Science Northern Ireland to help to reduce delays in the justice system. The equipment is on-site and undergoing tests and calibrations, and it will be operational before the end of next year.”
“As Members know, there is £50 million of funding over five years to dedicate to this work, half of which was put up by the Northern Ireland Executive and the other half by the United Kingdom Government. I hope, with what I just outlined, that Members will understand why, in July, when we completed a high-level action plan, that we did not rush to spend money. I make no apology for that. We will need to spend every penny of that money, and we are committed to spending it on the right things at the right time. <BR /> <BR />Spend will be based on need, and, in a programme of this nature, that need does not break down into five annual neat £5 million parcels. We did not, therefore, draw down money from the Treasury, and, as we still have to complete a lot of early work, we will not do so this year.”
“I was really pleased that the motion was tabled today. It gives us as a Government a chance to send a positive message to our communities about the need for change, the support we will give to communities and the lines in the sand on criminality. <BR /> <BR />I appreciate that Members are keen for details and that, rightly, they want to know what the Executive are doing. We will, of course, provide more details and updates on progress as it happens, but please appreciate that we are not taking a simplistic approach and support us in this work that is vital for all our communities. Premature attacks serve only to undermine public confidence in what we are doing, and that serves no purpose. <BR /> <BR />Let me turn to some of the practical details.”
“As a society, we can say that we all want individuals to play a role in the transition, fulfil their potential and make a contribution. Fresh Start gives our communities a choice. It is the opportunity to choose a path that will transform their community and, ultimately, the lives of each and every individual in it. <BR /> <BR />There will, however, be those who choose to remain engaged in criminality, and they will be subject to law enforcement. Our law enforcement organisations need and deserve our support. Asking people to report illegal activities to the PSNI is perfectly reasonable, and supporting law enforcement when they need action is the right thing to do. The role of law enforcement is to tackle blatant criminality and to demonstrate to communities that those activities are not to be tolerated.”
“This is not about what we will do to communities; it is about enabling, facilitating and nurturing communities to do it for themselves and about delivering long-term societal change. It takes time to build the relationships to make that happen. It will require new approaches, innovative ideas and some risk-taking and a leap of faith for those who have seen and heard it all before, so that they understand that this time it is different. <BR /> <BR />We need a strong and clear approach on paramilitary activity and organised crime, but, unless we understand the barriers to change and take the opportunity offered by the panel’s report, we will not ensure that that change is delivered. We need to offer communities a different vision for the future and support the transition to it.”
“It is by joining the action plan on tackling paramilitarism with the Programme for Government and the many other initiatives that exist that we will defeat crime and create the sustainable, stronger and safer communities that we all want. It is difficult, laborious work that requires dedication and a relentless focus on achieving outcomes. The problems that we need to tackle are deep-rooted and are associated with decades of conflict, poverty, and lack of opportunity and aspiration in those communities, but it is only by tackling those problems that we can succeed in tackling crime. <BR /> <BR />Let me be crystal clear: this is not a tick-box exercise or a shopping list of recommendations with a price tag against each one.”
“Not just yet. <BR /> <BR />Some of the recommendations in the report will be difficult to achieve and even more difficult to embed and sustain. Some will take a long time, because tackling paramilitarism and organised crime requires the Executive, the Assembly, local government, law enforcement, statutory agencies, voluntary organisations, charities and the community to work together over a sustained period to make it happen. We need to achieve the Programme for Government outcomes, where the ultimate measure that matters is the impact on people’s lives and create the society that we envisage, where there are jobs and education, good housing, better health and improved prosperity for all. We need to create the conditions where there is no space in our communities for these criminals to act, where lawfulness is respected.”
“As I said at the time, it would have been irresponsible for us to claim that the action plan was anything more than a high-level direction of travel. It was acceptance, and that is a huge leap forward. Our work did not end with the action plan in July; it only began then, and it continues. Rushing to spend money as a superficial sign that we are taking action is not the way we are prepared to go, and that is why it must be done right this time. There is no overnight solution to the problem.”
“Organised crime, drug dealing, people trafficking and all other types of crime exist everywhere. However, we have the added difficulty of dealing with the recent past and the challenges that that brings. The paramilitary groups that still exist include elements whose path of transition has been crime, but others see their role in post-conflict society as a positive one, helping to promote their culture and identity whilst building communities in a positive way. <BR /> <BR />In tackling paramilitarism and organised crime, we take on some of the most difficult challenges that we face. We received the panel report at the end of May, accepted its recommendations and moved quickly to publish an action plan agreed by all stakeholders with a role in delivering the recommendations.”
“Not just yet. <BR /> <BR />I want to see communities where people respect the law and each other. I want to see confident and capable communities in which everyone can play their part. I want to see an end to paramilitary-style assaults because they are crimes affecting real people who are often left with life-changing injuries, sometimes as payment for drug debts. They are real people, not just crime statistics. Regrettably, another instance of that nature occurred at the weekend. I want to see communities make that transition, and I want to see individuals make that transition. To them, I say this: "You cannot be a community leader and engage in illegal activities, because you are a criminal, and your community does not want you". <BR /> <BR />Unfortunately, Northern Ireland is no different from anywhere else in the world.”
“I want to see communities where people can live in peace and where our young people can lead fulfilled lives, secure good employment and not be drawn into criminality.”
“<BR /> <BR />Northern Ireland, thankfully, is a very different place today, and whatever causes people once thought they were fighting for or whatever threats they thought they were defending against are no more. There is no role for self-serving paramilitaries; they have no part to play in our communities. Let us call them what they are: criminals. They are criminal gangs who inflict fear and harm on the communities that they claim to protect and serve. They peddle drugs to our young people, launder fuel, sell counterfeit goods and engage in all forms of criminal activity. The cause they promote is personal gain, lining their own pockets at the expense of the community. I want to see an end to that. I want to see communities that are free from fear and coercive control.”
“Northern Ireland has come a long way since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 18 years ago. A different and better Northern Ireland with a strong Executive, a functioning Assembly, a new Opposition and commitments to exclusively peaceful and democratic means is a reality. That the Executive were so ready and willing to accept all the recommendations made by the three-person panel on tackling paramilitarism is a clear indication of how far we have come. That we needed a three-person panel to investigate ways of tackling the scourge of paramilitaries in our communities nearly two decades after the Good Friday Agreement shows how far we still have to go.”
“I thank the Member for his question. Indeed, I will be meeting the Director of Public Prosecutions this afternoon. It is certainly something about which we will have a discussion, particularly further to this decision. I realise that it is a departure from the previous Minister's decision on this. We are mindful of all those things as we move forward. I am quite happy to have that conversation when I meet him shortly.”
“Since becoming Justice Minister six months ago to the day, I have learnt an awful lot of lessons, but perhaps the biggest is that, as the Government, we have to listen to the people of Northern Ireland. We can do that through the Assembly or by going out and chatting to people, and I believe that that is what happened on this issue. We can truly reflect the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland by giving them the services they want.”
“I thank the Member for his comments. They are well noted, and I am happy to look at the issues that he has addressed in conversations with the Lord Chief Justice, who has ultimate responsibility in that area.”
“It would be quite difficult to remove myself from the role of Justice Minister. I stood here six months ago to the day and accepted the role. The comments that the Member makes are weak. I am a balanced person. I am independent and do not have party political baggage on any issues that come to the House. I take a balanced perspective on any issues that are brought to me. Perhaps I am the most balanced person in the House, because everything brought to me for a decision will be dealt with as and when it comes. The fact that the only people against this are Members from the Alliance Party, who happen to be the former Justice Minister's colleagues, suggests that it is they who have more personal issues here than me.”
“Yes, I am happy to look at the entire court system to see how best it can be utilised, now that we are in this new space of policy development and are taking a more strategic, holistic approach to justice. I am happy to consider all venues for my new policy.”
“Yes, he rightly alludes to the fact that this was an exercise in cost-cutting, but I want to take a more strategic approach. It is not just about cost-cutting; it is about how we can best service the people of Northern Ireland.”
“The Member is absolutely right: it is a personal decision because I am now the Minister of Justice. In coming to the decision, I have had a wider review of the issues that have been brought to me. In anticipating what might have happened around the court estate, I have listened to Members. I have received numerous bits of correspondence from local government to ask me to reconsider the decision, and I think that it is only responsible that I do that. <BR /> <BR />The Minister — the former Minister; I beg your pardon — refers to the wider impact assessment. I think that we need to do more, and I will certainly not do that in isolation as the Department of Justice. I will do that along with my Executive colleagues, other Members of the House, agencies and constituents across Northern Ireland.”
“Absolutely. Everybody has an entitlement to access justice, and, as a representative of a rural constituency, I am mindful of the particular challenges around access to justice in rural areas. Yes, I welcome his comments. All these things made me come to this decision. I think that it is a positive decision, and, if anything, it demonstrates that I have listened to the people of Northern Ireland.”
“Just because we have never done it that way before does not mean that we cannot do that moving forward, and Northern Ireland is now in a position where we can start to satisfy these new ways of thinking.”
“I am happy to look at all these things moving forward. That is the right approach to take. Yes, the last review showed that there was an underutilisation of the court estate, but, again, we need to be more creative in how we can use our court estate. That might not be for court proceedings; perhaps we can use them as mediation centres or advice centres. One of my overarching and key messages as Minister of Justice is that, if we can tackle these things upstream, hopefully they will not get downstream. That is when we have our problems and when we have already lost. An approach that stops these issues going to court is not just good for budgets and resources but good for the people of Northern Ireland because it means they do not have to go through that system. We need to be creative in how we do this.”
“We are at the beginning of the process, and I welcome all Members playing a part in that. Up to now, you have been very good at sharing with me your views on this area. Now that I have made the decision, I will be happy, moving forward, to hear those views.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The Criminal Justice Inspection report that led to my predecessor's decision to close a number of courthouses across Northern Ireland demonstrated that the service that we were providing was underutilised. However, the approach of just closing those courthouses was the wrong one, in the sense that we have to have an understanding of the wider impact of courthouse closures on access to justice, which some Members talked about. I will take the widest possible view of this. It would be remiss of me as Justice Minister not to consider the wider implications, whether they fall within my remit or not. <BR /> <BR />The Northern Ireland Executive are in a new space, and we are trying to work together on these issues. It is quite a message to the House that the majority have welcomed my statement.”
“We have seen in other parts of the world, namely America and Scotland, how taking this approach has almost given offenders the opportunity to realise that it was down to their circumstances and to take a different approach to justice. It serves no one to put people in custody. If we can do it in a better way, it will have positive repercussions not only for wider society but, on a pragmatic level, for reducing the heavy resources currently in place. <BR /> <BR />The problem-solving justice approach is innovative and new. It will take time to work through, but we are keen to move forward with it. In the new Programme for Government, it will be the overarching theme that threads its way through my priorities in the next five years.”
“I thank the Member for his question. The problem-solving justice approach is, in its basic form, a common-sense approach to justice and one that is mindful of the hurdles that get in people's way and can lead them into the criminal justice system. I have reiterated time and again in the House that I do not believe that anyone is born bad; I believe that it is a product of the circumstances that they find themselves in. We often find that people with mental health issues and people who misuse drugs and alcohol or perhaps have other social and economic issues are led by those circumstances into the criminal justice system.”
“Yes is the answer to all your questions. We have to be mindful of providing access to justice to the most vulnerable. When we look at the estate, that will be one of the considerations. I am happy to share that with the Justice Committee so that it, too, can have an input into how we can do this in the right way.”
“Yes, indeed. We need to look at this from internal and external perspectives. That is why, further to my announcement today, I have instructed my officials to do that assessment and chat to the stakeholders involved in order to understand how we could better use these buildings throughout the estate. I want local communities to have ownership of the courthouses. We are considering all options; I am quite happy for Members to share their views on how we can best do that, and I know that a number of Members have already done that in the past six months. There is an opportunity now to see how we can move forward with our court buildings.”
“<BR /> <BR />I am fully aware of the challenges around the money that we need to save, but there is a better way to do this. This is a new mandate, I am a new Minister, and I have new priorities. I want to move justice forward in an innovative and radical way, and I will not just try to cut the fat from the system, of which there is very little left.”
“I thank the Member for his question. One of my concerns about how my predecessor came to his conclusion is that a full impact assessment was not done of the implications of the courthouse closures. We have to be quite mindful that, whilst we are in government, of course we need to look at saving money, but we also have to assess how our decisions will have a wider impact on society. I have considered that in taking this decision forward. By all means, we need to look at our budgets and understand how we can make savings; that is the right thing to do. Equally, however, we need to look at how our decisions affect public services because, essentially, that is what we are here for: to provide good public services for the people of Northern Ireland.”
“I thank the Member for his question. I am sure that he will be happy to know that I take the views of the House quite seriously. Mrs Barton asked me a question yesterday about the courts estate, and these things came to my mind when I considered this decision. The judicial review was expected to start this week, but it had not begun. From my perspective, I was taking all these things into account when I made this decision today. It is perfectly reasonable that I would want to consider the views of people in the House and then come to a decision like this. I am sure that the Member would expect that of me.”
“I thank the Member for her comments. I am quite happy to look at it as part of the review. This provides a fresh opportunity to see how we can move forward with the courts estate. It is something that the Member has raised with me in several questions and in conversations. Therefore, as part of this review, let us see how we can look forward for the Courts Service in 2020.”
“At the end of the day, that is what we are here for.”
“I thank the Member for his kind wishes and comments on how we could better utilise the courts system. At this stage, I cannot confirm how we might use the courts. We are very much in the early stages as to how we can better utilise facilities in the courts estate. However, we will be looking at all the aspects of how we might utilise them. It will not be done just on a cost-cutting basis. I can confirm that the previous proposals would have realised a saving of about £800,000, and that is something that we will have to find. However, I am confident that, with the new approach that I am taking within the Department, we will be able to find those savings. I will want to have conversations with local government, councils and elected reps so that they have some way of determining the services in their constituencies.”
“I thank the Member for his questions and kind wishes. There is an opportunity with this decision to look at our court system and see how we can better utilise court services. I have very much followed a policy of problem-solving justice, and I referred to the domestic court in Derry/Londonderry. We are also looking at a substance misuse court. In my tenure as Justice Minister, I would like to try to tackle some of these issues upstream and stop people getting to court in the first place. There are opportunities in the community to enable that to happen. We could perhaps use the courts estate to facilitate that type of approach. I think that this is a very positive decision. I have listened to the House and to local government. This is not something that was wanted, and that is why I have come to my decision.”
“At the same time, I have asked the chief executive of the Courts and Tribunals Service to establish a review of what the future of court services should look like in 2020 and beyond. This Courts 2020 review, together with the decision I am announcing this afternoon, will ensure that we plan for a modern courts service that delivers access to justice for the people of Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />I commend this decision to the House.”
“<BR /> <BR />As we look to these and other opportunities to improve the way we deliver justice in Northern Ireland, I have concluded that now is not the time to proceed with court closures of the scale envisaged. Consequently, I have decided to reverse the decision taken in the previous mandate, and I have instructed my officials to advise the High Court accordingly. I have not taken that decision lightly, and I am, of course, aware that the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service will have to find savings in other areas of its budget if it is to deliver the efficiencies that are expected of it. However, given the changing justice landscape, I have concluded that we should retain maximum flexibility within the court estate for the time being.”
“Plans are also in place to further build on the success of the domestic violence court that has been operating successfully in Derry/Londonderry. Those are just some examples of how a problem-solving approach to justice has the potential to make a real difference in people's lives. <BR /> <BR />Separately, it will be important to consider carefully the emerging recommendations of the review of civil and family justice, which is being led by Lord Justice Gillen. The preliminary reports from that review recommend greater use of mediation and alternative dispute-resolution procedures, the digitalisation of court processes and the establishment of civil and family justice centres.”
“Since taking that decision, I have had time to listen to a range of views on the issue and reflect on what will be a changing justice landscape during the Assembly mandate and beyond. <BR /> <BR />In determining the future shape of the court estate, it is important that I do so in the context of the Programme for Government. This represents a real opportunity for us to adopt new and innovative approaches to problems that have often seemed intractable, and I am determined that we should look for more radical solutions based on the concept of problem-solving justice. <BR /> <BR />My Department is already working on a pathfinder project that will lead to the establishment of a pilot substance misuse court and, in due course, a family, drug and alcohol court.”