Debate contribution: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Stewart Dickson on 16 June 2026.

MLA: Mr Stewart Dickson
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 16 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Executive Committee Business
Heading: Justice Bill: Consideration Stage
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5624360

Text

Thank you. The Member, very powerfully, listed all the organisations that interact with young people in Northern Ireland, many of which interact with the justice system. Those organisations have expressed, very strongly and vocally, their opinion on the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Does the Member agree that those organisations have to work with other organisations and Departments in Northern Ireland, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and the Department for Communities? I would have thought that they will now have an interesting interface with the Ministers from those Departments. Does the Member agree that it is not just the Justice Department that those organisations and agencies have to work with, and that their relationship with other Departments, particularly those in which the Minister has decided to deploy a petition of concern, against the expert knowledge of those organisations, will be difficult in the future?

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

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