Debate contribution: Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime: Update
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 30 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime: Update
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5653268
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Through the Executive programme, we are delivering a wider suite of interventions focused on prevention, early intervention and supporting those most at risk. The custody navigator project provides support at the point of justice contact and is the expansion of the Another Way project into Derry and Strabane. That project works proactively in communities, in particular among younger people who are at risk. Together, the two approaches ensure that individuals are identified much earlier, are offered tailored support and are provided with clear pathways away from harm and criminality. It is not about a single intervention but about a coordinated system of support, combining enforcement with prevention, safeguarding and wrap-around services in order to break cycles of harm and build safer communities. The work also builds on the excellent work done by youth services and youth workers. We underestimate at our peril the input that youth workers can have to guide young people in a teachable moment and take them away from the clutches of criminal organisations.
167 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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