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Mrs Naomi Long: Assembly records
All of Mrs Naomi Long’s imported questions, contributions and motions in this mandate, newest first, including those assessed as not qualifying, uncertain or not yet analysed.
The Health Minister and I are jointly commissioning an external independent review into the law and procedures on unfitness to plead, including trials of the facts. The review responds to my concerns about whether the current arrangements are fair to defendants and victims and provide adequate protection for the…
I have regular meetings with the Criminal Bar Association and the Law Society. Indeed, I am due to meet both, or at least the Criminal Bar Association, within the next week. We will continue to do that. My officials continue to work closely with both organisations to ensure that we make the changes that are required.…
I commissioned the accelerated review of criminal legal aid in the interests of victims and witnesses who were affected by the withdrawal, and, in their interests, have continued to prioritise that implementation. Consultation on the proposed changes issued promptly on 26 June and closed on 21 August. Officials are…
As I said, listing lies with the judiciary. Many factors affect listing, not all of which lie within my Department. As you know, we have the speeding up justice programme, which is there to try to ensure that the time that is taken from first charge to the case being disposed of in court is reduced. That work is…
The unwarranted and unnecessary withdrawal of services by the CBA has caused significant damage to the justice system. It has damaged the efforts and progress that we were already making to reduce delay. More importantly, it has damaged the victims, witnesses and defendants in the system, whom it is supposed to serve.…
I beg to move Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I will not reread the motion that I am about to speak to. I thank the Justice Committee and the Examiner of Statutory Rules for examining the order. Under article 2, courts and statutory tribunals in Northern Ireland can continue to conduct all or part of their…
I would love to say that I am surprised that we are in the Chamber debating this silly motion today, but, given its genesis, I have to say that I am not. At a time when our institutions are under pressure and relations between communities are at a new low, I am almost incredulous that this is what is at the top of the…
First, I appreciate the Member's withdrawing his comment, because the only link between the two was the cost of mutual aid. To be absolutely clear, that was the only link. I was asked a question about cost, and my answer was about cost. Peaceful assembly is an important human right, but "peaceful" assembly does not…
First and foremost, I made no comparison between race riots and what happened on the Garvaghy Road. The Member needs to take that back. What I said was that there were comparable costs from mutual aid. That is what I said. I did not compare the two scenarios, and I do not appreciate the Member's trying to misrepresent…
If my first answer was unacceptable, that will come as a surprise to no one, because nothing ever seems to be acceptable to Mr Burrows. It also appears that, despite what he says, Mr Burrows has no concept of working in a prison environment. Prisons are often volatile and challenging places in which a whole mix of…
There are a number of reasons. We have been looking at and working on that for some time. It is certainly my desire that we would be in a position to be able to end smoking in prisons. We are working at the moment with the health service and the Public Health Agency (PHA) on a proof of concept around allowing people…
First and foremost, it has not been difficult for me to put it on the record. I put it on the record before what happened at Drumcree. I put it on the record in the immediate aftermath, twice in front of cameras yesterday and again in the Chamber today, so if the Member has not heard it, it is not because I have not…
There is a tendency to try to misrepresent what I say. I wondered how long it would be before all of this was the Alliance Party's fault. It has not taken long. First and foremost, it is not my role in the House to adjudicate on whether Ministers are in breach of the ministerial code. There are authorities that are…
Five million pounds is what it is. People are aware of the implications that that will have on a justice system that is looking down the barrel of an overspend of over £100 million this year, just to stand still. Without wishing to advertise a particular supermarket, "Every little helps". That £5 million could be…
To be clear, I did not attribute blame to anyone for the fact that we needed additional feet on the ground on the Garvaghy Road. The truth is that police were there and needed mutual aid and assistance simply because there was a potential threat to order and life. They had no choice but to call on that additional…
Reducing avoidable delay in the justice system remains a priority for my Department and Justice partners, particularly where cases involve children and young people. Timely progression supports rehabilitation for young people who offend and helps to minimise uncertainty and further trauma for child victims and…
That is an interesting question, and I thank the former Health Minister for asking it, because I know that vicarious trauma has also affected his former Department. I do not think that a baseline assessment of staff has been conducted, but it is something that we are aware of and that we may well come to in time. At…
Without doubt, it is important that we invest earlier. We know from the research conducted by the tackling paramilitarism and organised crime programme that numbers of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are higher in Northern Ireland than in other regions and that they have significant consequences for the life…
A Justice-wide group has been running since June 2021 to support a more strategic approach to trauma-informed practice across the justice system. Included on that group is representation from the Probation Board, the Youth Justice Agency, the police, the Prison Service, the core Department, the Safeguarding Board and…
As lead Minister for the Executive programme on paramilitarism and organised crime, which has invested over £1·5 million to support the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland in embedding trauma-informed practice across sectors, I fully support the adoption of trauma-informed approaches in my Department and across…
Absolutely. I mentioned that one because it was the first community asset transfer that the Executive managed to do. Oddly, it was from Justice, which is not always recognised as contributing something so iconic to the community. The adequacy of our estate is a challenge, but that does not mean that those buildings…
The intention, as part of the overall review, was to significantly refurbish and extend Bishop Street courthouse, which would allow us to provide modern facilities, such as the space to separate witnesses and defendants, on-site without losing the asset. That is still possible, but my challenge is that there is no…
The Member raises probably the key point in all of it. All Members are aware of the adequacy of our courts estate. Many of the buildings are listed buildings and historic buildings. Many of them are beautiful buildings, but they are not fit for current court business or for organising court business in the way that we…