Debate contribution: Public Disorder: TEO Strategic Action

Debate contribution by Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly on 16 June 2025.

MLA

Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

16 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Questions for Urgent Oral Answer

Heading

Public Disorder: TEO Strategic Action

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5010834

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The PSNI has come out with a clear assessment that there is no evidence of loyalist paramilitary involvement. I have to say to the Member that it is not about standing here and waffling. Over the course of the past week, I was in touch with the Chief Constable every day. I spoke to local representatives on the ground. I went to Ballymena to speak to residents. I met the family of the child who was assaulted. I met families from the ethnic minority community whose properties were subject to arson. I have been in contact with many people because I believe in action: being there and listening to people. I advise the Member to calm his rhetoric and, if he is talking about working together, to truly work together, because everything must come together for this to work: action on the ground, the right funding support for the PSNI, work with our community organisations and listening to local residents. From a policy perspective, importantly, we need to get the strategies right, because the strategies will support that work and those structures and that funding going to the right people at the right time. That is not waffle. That is not a waste of time. That is absolutely essential, if we are genuinely to change people's lives for the better.

We have been absolutely clear and united. The Communities Minister has been unambiguous, I have been unambiguous and politically, we have been unambiguous: the violence was wrong and needed to stop. Indeed, as the Communities Minister said clearly, he was endeavouring to defuse the situation and ensure that it was made clear that the rumours and myths that were going around in the community were not true. There was never any justification, even if those rumours had been true. There was certainly no suggestion of a justification that any violence take place. As he clearly said, his intentions at all times were to defuse tensions and avoid violence and any type of racism. Let us be clear: we are unambiguous in saying that the violence was wrong and that it had to stop.

I thank the Member for his important question. It has been disappointing over the past week to see people take part in party politics and silly games at a time when it was really important to the people whom we serve that we send the message that we stand united, that our clear demand is that the violence stop, that we offer our clear support to the PSNI and that, importantly, together we will listen to local communities and do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again. Last week, because of ongoing the distractions and debates, the messages were mixed; indeed, if this were to happen again — I hope that it does not — the lesson should be learned that we need to show the leadership that is demanded of us. That means supporting all those who were impacted on by that terrible, violent disorder.

I thank the Member for his question. He is absolutely right: for us to have the right response, all parts of that response must work. Of course, we want to prevent it from ever happening again, but that will require those strategies, interventions and funding support. However, were it to happen again, it would demand a robust policing response. That requires the right support to be given to the PSNI, which has not happened thus far. We need to do our best to ensure that we give the PSNI the funds that it needs. We also need to ensure that the criminal justice system is responsive to such issues so that people can be processed and that justice is not only done but seen to be done. We have to ensure that a clear message is sent that, if people are going to go out on to the streets of Northern Ireland to cause fear and destruction, a swift penalty will be paid. That is the way in which our justice system ought to work.

I thank the Member for his question. As the Member is aware, that process is under way. Many of the key aspects of T:BUC endure, and many key principles will remain. Of course, as I have said before, I would like to have seen in the first Together: Building a United Community strategy a focus not only on what were termed "traditional communities" but more widely. The T:BUC strategy is grounded in section 75(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Of course, that is wider and covers race relations as well. It is incredibly important. Similar interventions are required across this area. Really good learning from what we have done in good relations and the CIT programme can be deployed in those areas. We need to continue to identify areas where there are tensions and issues, and we need the right interventions that are based on the good practice that we have seen in other situations. It makes huge sense for it to be joined up.

That is what the First Minister and I will strive to do through the reviewed T:BUC strategy, which will be coming very shortly.

I assure the Member that that work is under way, and some of the learning from it has already been put into practice. One example is the coming together of the particular units under one directorate in the Executive Office. While some of that does not sound particularly interesting, it is really important that the aspects work well together. Likewise, the review of the first racial equality strategy is really important, because a number of structures have been set up. Some are working really well. For example, in our forums, we have regular exchanges and listen to those from the ethnic minority community. There is also work being done on the policing and justice side to tackle hate crime. There are many elements. The best of them will be rolled forward into the revised racial equality strategy, but, importantly, on your colleague's point, it is not just about equality but about social cohesion, which is why social cohesion must be fully integrated into the new Together: Building a United Community strategy as well.

At the moment, there are people on the ground who feel scared. There are people on the ground who have lost their home. There are communities that genuinely want their serious concerns and the issues that they face day in, day out to be listened to. It demeans this place and demeans all of us to keep coming back to what is effectively a party political point-scoring exercise. Let us drop the silly games and focus on working together for communities, listening to communities and addressing the big issues. I advise the Member that we can address those issues only by standing together, united, and not by taking lumps out of one another in this place.

I take the opportunity today to pay tribute to the many people who come to Northern Ireland who significantly contribute in many ways, not only by adding to the richness of our identities and cultures but by working in our health service, which simply could not survive without their incredible work. They also work in so many other sectors. We also want to attract the brightest and the best from across the world. If we are to be global leaders in technology, cyber and advanced engineering, we need to attract the brightest and the best. The reality is this, however: many communities in the most deprived places really struggle to get access to housing and public services. It is our duty to listen to those people. The frustrations that we have seen are around what we need to do to support those people to get access to affordable housing and access to services. There is an issue with supply and demand. The challenge with that is that, when people are frustrated and in a difficult position, there are forces out there — people out there — that are prepared to do everything that they can to manipulate the situation. We need to step up and do our part, but we also need to listen to people in those communities when they talk about social cohesion and the issues that they face in order to make sure that their lives are much better than they are at the moment.

I thank the Member for his important question. The reality is that integration often does not happen by chance. It will not happen accidentally. When communities have been changed or are changing, there can often be those frictions and social cohesion issues. We know that; it is common all over the globe. Therefore, as I said, it is important for us to get down into communities to really listen to them about the challenges that they face. However, it is also important that we are careful about the policies and approaches. Last summer, we saw a huge number of clusters of Mears housing and different things coming in and impacting on communities, and communities were feeling that the politicians sitting in this place did not understand and were not listening to what they face day in and day out. It is really important to listen to people, do everything that we can and do that work to see where people are coming in, what the social cohesion issues are and what support we can give to support those communities. That is why the racial equality strategy, our race relations approach and Together: Building a United Community are important. For 50 years, we have been working on relationships between the communities that have been here for many generations, so, of course, there is a huge amount of work to be done on working with new communities and the host communities. That is what we really need to focus on as an important part of our work in the Department.

That strategy is about making every woman and girl feel safe in Northern Ireland, and that is an inclusive approach. The Member will be aware that the strategy and the framework clearly include those from an ethnic minority background. From talking to people on the ground, I know that they are clear that there is a fear about the safety of women and girls. We have those schemes coming out through the councils, and that money is already hitting the ground. There is much more to be done. We have said before that the money that we have secured is welcome. However, we would love to have more money to put towards the measure not just in working with great organisations such as Women's Aid and other groups that work with the victims of that violence but, importantly, in doing preventative work on tackling the misogynistic attitudes that give rise to the violence. That is all really important. The more money that we can get for that important work, the better. We will seek that as we move forward through the delivery of that framework and delivery plan.

First, we need to be clear about our message, which is both that the violence is wrong and that we will listen to communities on the ground. It is absolutely important in all this that communities feel empowered to talk to us about the issues that they face. We need to listen, and we need to take action. I assure the Member that I am very much about action. I was very much involved in creating the Urban Villages scheme. Together: Building a United Community involved real money getting out on the ground, should it be for summer camps, working with schools or whatever the projects may look like. The social investment fund benefited so many parts of Northern Ireland, and I was very much involved in creating that. We have very much been about action. Yes, we need the strategies, but a strategy is a strategy only if it works. If it is a strategy that sits on a shelf and does nothing, it is absolutely useless. Our strategies must work, and our frameworks must work. We need to get the money out to support people with the right interventions at the right time. Those must be the interventions that work with local communities and local people that help to solve the challenges that people face.

I am not aware of which comments in particular the Member refers to, but let me be clear: people need to stop the silly games; people need to grow up; and people need to step up. That is what the people of Northern Ireland demand of us; that is what the people of Northern Ireland expect of us; and that is what we need to do. We need to get together, get our act together and send the clear message that violence is wrong but also that we have people's backs, we will listen to people, and we will do our best to really bring about positive change on the big challenges that people face. Let me be clear: there are too many people across Northern Ireland who are facing difficult times, are really facing that hardship and really need the support of their Executive. That is what we need to do. No matter what part they come from, we should be there to have the backs of the people of Northern Ireland, and we should do that in a mature way and by showing the leadership that the people of Northern Ireland expect of us.

I thank the Member for her question. There are a number of aspects to it: the PSNI and the criminal justice system, and we have the Home Office coming in. It supports just over £11 million a year for integration work, but, of course, that is coming in from a non-devolved source. The Executive Office distributes that through the other Departments. We have councils, the Housing Executive and housing associations. Importantly, we have those incredible organisations in our third sector — the community organisations. I pay tribute to the organisations that worked on the ground to get people off the streets and to get young people back in their homes and appealed to people to stop the violence. That was incredibly helpful in the past number of days. They require that support. In the Executive Office, we can try, as a central Department, to coordinate that under the strategies and to make sure that those strategies are cohesive and come together and, importantly, that the right interventions are identified, the right people are delivering them and they are delivered in the right way in the right place. That is critical.

The Member will be aware that that is in the legislative programme and that it is the responsibility of the First Minister and me to bring that forward. He will also be aware that the aim is to get all legislation introduced no later than mid-autumn in order to give it the best chance to get through the House before the next election. That is the time frame that we are endeavouring to meet. The consultation ended in 2023. A lot of work has taken place on that legislation with the Office of the Legislative Counsel (OLC), which is the drafting office. We hope to have those proposals with us prior to the summer recess. That will enable finalised drafting to happen over the summer, with the aim of introduction in September or October of the new term.

Good news: it has been published. It was published several weeks ago, so I hope that the Member will take a look at that online. Indeed, we are moving forward with implementation of that.

2,624 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:52 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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