Debate contribution: Garvaghy Road: Breach of Ministerial Code
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 28 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Garvaghy Road: Breach of Ministerial Code
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5762163
Read the official Assembly record
Text
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 said it. Secondly, it is not my role — I will be absolutely clear about this — to try to influence the operational decisions of the PSNI. The police have indicated that they are carrying out investigations of any offences that may have been committed on Saturday and Sunday. That is their view, and they have set that out. I will not try to influence them in either direction; nor will I be appealing to the Public Prosecution Service to take any specific action; nor will I be leaning into the Lady Chief Justice to demand that she does anything or influences her judges. That would be political interference in the independent and lawful discharge of their duties. If you believe in the rule of law, you do not ask me to interfere in operational matters. That is the rule of law and the culture of lawfulness that we have to instil; so, no, I will not interfere. What I have done and will do is contact the Chief Constable to talk to him about what resources he might need if it continues and about the state and morale of his officers, because that is an appropriate intervention for me to make when those people are putting themselves in the middle of an intractable situation. All of us in the Chamber have a responsibility to now row everyone back from the brink and allow those officers to get back to the work that they should be doing.
311 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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