Debate contribution: Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Eóin Tennyson on .
- MLA
- Mr Eóin Tennyson
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 22 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5741113
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for giving way and for her engagement in a pre-legislative scrutiny session with all members of the Communities Committee, which was really constructive. She talks about gaps. There are two gaps, which have already been identified and stood up by the case studies and evidence that have been referenced in the debate. The first major gap is that unregulated talking therapy is not likely to be prosecutable under existing law, because it is not a criminal offence for someone to call themselves a therapist and set up a service. That is the most common form of conversion practice, as we understand it, in Northern Ireland, and survivor testimony suggests that it is very prevalent. The other gap is where there is coercive and controlling behaviour between individuals who are not personally connected. The Member is absolutely right: if individuals who are personally connected engage in conversion therapy, the person may well be prosecutable under domestic abuse legislation at present. However, if a youth leader, a pastor or a minister engages in the same behaviour, they may not be prosecutable under existing law. Those are the two gaps that we are seeking to address. It is open to debate whether we have done so adequately.
208 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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