Debate contribution: Racially Motivated Riots

Debate contribution by Ms Kate Nicholl on 15 June 2026.

MLA: Ms Kate Nicholl
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 15 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Matter of the Day
Heading: Racially Motivated Riots
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5613212

Text

Mr Speaker, I am grateful that you have allowed extra time to have this conversation. Thank you very much. Some 90% of those seeking international protection in the South came from Northern Ireland, so can we please address that misconception? To blame the Justice Minister for the situation, when she has no role in managing migration, is, frankly, disgusting politicking.
I have spent the last few days with people in my constituency who have been burnt out of their houses, with someone who had their shop burnt down for the second time and with communities who are sheltering in a church. I saw a boy doing a GSCE exam online in a church because he was too afraid to go to school. So many children from minority ethnic backgrounds have not been going into school. A cancer doctor texted me and said, "How do I go into work tomorrow? How do I send my kids into school?". The fear is palpable. I have said that I am happy to have a conversation about migration, but, when we bring it into those contexts, we conflate the issues and make it seem like there is anything that justifies the violence and hate that is happening in our society. The riots will stop, but the impact on those children will last. We saw what happened in Ballymena. I know kids who just did not go to their swimming lessons for months afterwards. They are feeling it. We can, of course, have a conversation about migration, but it needs to be done sensitively and without adding fuel to a really fraught situation. We also need to remember that we do not have a say over migration; that is for the Home Office. If we are to talk about anything that needs to be done, let us talk about how we coordinate a response, because this is the third year that it has happened. What happens when people are burnt out of their house? Who leads on that? Which person in the Department for Communities will coordinate the response? Why do 200 people have to be found houses by volunteers from a church? Why did Matthew O'Toole have to drive people to his constituency office? Why are people asking volunteers to do that work? Who is coordinating the response? We need to make sure that we have a clear, actionable plan in place for when such things happen. I said last week that it was not the time to have a conversation about migration because I was absolutely terrified that there would be riots or some kind of response. We have to be so careful with our language. We need to make sure that we have plans in place. We need to have sensible policy discussions, and we need to stop blaming people for the really awful things that are happening in our society. To blame it on the Justice Minister is absolutely disgusting. We need to be beyond that. A lot of work needs to be done, and I hope that we can have the courage, empathy and capacity to move beyond it, because there are people in our society who are terrified right now and need our leadership.

535 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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