Debate contribution: Racially Motivated Riots

Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on 15 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Jonathan Buckley

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

15 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Matter of the Day

Heading

Racially Motivated Riots

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5613233

Read the official Assembly record

Text

My first thoughts are with every innocent human life that has been affected by the past week's events in Northern Ireland, with Stephen Ogilvie and his family following a brutal and savage attack and with every other member of our community who has subsequently been caught up. My party and I have always been clear that violence is never the answer and that there has always been an alternative. However, I have listened as some parties in the House have attempted to put the blame for the violence in the streets in the past week at our door and at the door of political leaders who have been prepared to stand up, not just now but in times past, against an uncontrolled and illegal immigration system that continues to fail our citizens. I have never sensed a more out-of-touch political establishment that accuses people who highlight legitimate concerns. Mr O'Toole may have made light of it, but I can tell you now it is genuine and heartfelt. Let us be very clear: no political leader caused the violence on the streets over the past week. The attempted beheading of a Belfast citizen by a Sudanese national who travelled across the world to enter our borders is what caused the violence in the streets. It was wrong: there should always be political alternatives. I have listened to Sinn Féin desperately try to rewrite the script on illegal and uncontrolled immigration. It is fooling absolutely nobody. The general public know that the horse has bolted and left the gate wide open. I have been contacted by constituents and people from further afield across Northern Ireland from south Armagh to Tyrone to Belfast who have caught on to the sheer folly of Sinn Féin's position of, "Brits out and everybody else in". It is absolutely on you. You come to the Chamber and say that we have no need to control immigration. You stand beside banners that say, "End deportations" and, "Open borders". It is ridiculous. Just last week, I challenged the Secretary of State: 1,000 deportations from Northern Ireland in the past year. The Secretary of State told us that we did not have a problem. Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance told us that we did not have a problem. I asked him how many of those people came over the Irish border. He could not answer the question. There is nowhere to hide. There are questions to answer. Let us be clear that parties cannot come to the House and gaslight any Member who has been highlighting those concerns for years. You must step up. You must do better.

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

Assessment

Flagged Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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