Debate contribution: Garvaghy Road: Potential Prosecutions
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: Potential Prosecutions
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5762176
Read the official Assembly record
Text
First and foremost, I made no comparison between race riots and what happened on the Garvaghy Road. The Member needs to take that back. What I said was that there were comparable costs from mutual aid. That is what I said. I did not compare the two scenarios, and I do not appreciate the Member's trying to misrepresent my position. I have already said today that I am concerned about what is happening not just on Garvaghy Road but across Portadown and about the fear, tension and trauma that is being reawakened in people. I have been clear about that. I have also said that the police must police to protect life. That means that a cost will be attached. It is not for me to determine whether bringing people before the courts is a good use of police and court time. Members may try, in the next six months, to invite me to overstep my boundaries and direct the Public Prosecution Service, the Police Service or the courts in what they should do, but I will not do it. I fundamentally believe in a culture of lawfulness that applies in this House to me as much as it does to any demonstration or public assembly anywhere else. I will not be drawn to cross that line.
217 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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