Debate contribution: Hate: Executive Approach

Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on 22 September 2025.

MLA

Mr Matthew O'Toole

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

22 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Hate: Executive Approach

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5124186

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. In moving the second motion on the first Opposition day following the Assembly's return from summer recess, I am mindful of the victims of hate crime over the summer in Northern Ireland. I am mindful of all those who still live in fear because of the upsurge in hate that we have seen in our society. I want those people to be at the centre of the debate, because the truth is that, as we have set out in the motion, we have failed them. Northern Ireland and, indeed, the island of Ireland are markedly more diverse places than they were when I was a younger man. When I was growing up, the region was overwhelmingly mono-ethnic. It was made up of people who were born in Northern Ireland itself, in Ireland or in Britain. Clearly, that has changed. Let me be the first to say that I welcome that change. It has brought huge benefits to our society. I say that as someone who represents what is not just the most diverse constituency in the North of Ireland but, I think, the most diverse constituency on the island of Ireland. My constituency office is situated on University Street and is open to the public in South Belfast, specifically the public in that area. They can seek my help with housing, healthcare or any other issue on which they may need assistance with statutory authorities. The area is very diverse. It has people from all over the world. Those people are not here simply — as some, including, I am afraid, some in the Chamber, would occasionally like to depict them — as a burden or as entrants to this society for their own benefit; they add extraordinary benefit to the community, the city and the whole region. There are two extraordinary and, you might say, world-leading institutions on my constituency office doorstep, one of which is literally a stone's throw from its front door. They are Queen's University Belfast and the City Hospital. Neither of those institutions could function or thrive without the contribution of migrants. That is a fact. People from all over the world come to Queen's University and the City Hospital to study, educate, research and heal and to make our society better and healthier. I thank them for their contribution and pay tribute to everything that they offer us. I want our society to welcome more people like them. The problem is that, at this time, it is difficult to tell them with complete sincerity that they will receive as open a welcome as they should. That is because, this summer past and the previous summer, we have seen an unacceptable spike in hate. Those are not isolated incidents. Hate crime has been rising in Northern Ireland in a shocking way; in fact, race hate crime now exceeds sectarian hate crime in Northern Ireland. In many ways, our politics and our society have been defined by the historical division in religion or, if you prefer, constitutional preference in this place. Sadly, that division still exists, although it is, in some ways, getting better. Hate crime against people who are not from these shores, however, now outranks or exceeds sectarian hate crime. Our motion is clear. There has been a significant upsurge in hate crime since the Executive returned last February. Since their return, the Executive have failed to deal with that hate crime as effectively and comprehensively as they should have.

Our motion is clear about the different ways in which they have failed and been inadequate.

On 4 September, before we all returned to this place after the summer break, the Executive had a meeting. The First Minister, the deputy First Minister and other Ministers outlined the actions that they would take as a result of that meeting. A statement was published on the Executive Office's website, and there was a press conference. The statement said that the Executive wanted to "move forward together" on hate crime and tackling hate. Those are the warmest of warm words, but they needed to be followed up with clear action. They were not, and they have not been thus far. The clarity from the Executive has, frankly, been lacking and pathetic. In recent weeks and since then, we have seen an attempted lynching on the streets of Belfast in the Justice Minister's own constituency. Have we seen a decisive response? I am afraid that, as yet, we have not. What to do about it? There are several things that should be done. The first test is, in a sense, the easiest to pass, and it is that there be a clear, consistent and unified response from political leadership on the unacceptability and immorality of hate crime in all its forms. Have we seen that? We have to an extent, but, for too many people, their opposition to the hate that we have seen on the streets of Belfast, Ballymena, Larne and elsewhere has been caveated — qualified — with words to the effect of, "Ah, but we have to ensure that legitimate concerns are heard". There are, of course, legitimate concerns about any number of political issues. People are entitled to have a view about migration, for example, and about housing, but you instantly nullify the legitimacy of any political complaint when you engage in violence. Secondly, we need to see clarity about an increase in resource for the parts of our criminal justice system that will, effectively, deal with and deter racist violence and lower-level hate crime on our streets. That involves, first, greater resources for the PSNI and an urgency in dealing with those issues. Secondly, it involves greater resources for the courts so that they can prioritise dealing with the issues. I hope that the Justice Minister will elaborate on some of that in her remarks. There is also a longer-term challenge that we need to deal with. It has now been years since Judge Marrinan reported on hate crime legislation. We have yet to see the full implementation, or even the near-full implementation, of Judge Marrinan's recommendations. We know that we are not going to get stand-alone hate crime legislation. That is not good enough. I acknowledge that the Justice Minister will say, I am sure today, that she intends to bring forward legislation in a staged way. We are now getting very close to being in a situation where we will be up against it, as it were, in delivering legislation. We have a sentencing Bill that we expect to get in the next year.

Yes.

First, I am not going to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, so if we can pass this legislation, yes, I welcome it. However, there are two things to consider. First, with regard to doing it expeditiously, we are now 18 months into this mandate — 18 months — and we have not seen a single word of hate crime provisions either in a stand-alone Bill or as part of another Bill. I would challenge the idea that it has been expedited. It is also worth saying that it was in the Alliance Party's manifesto that there would be a stand-alone hate crime Bill. Secondly, there is the challenge of paramilitarism. We know that paramilitaries have played a part in a considerable number of the hate crime that we have seen on the streets of Northern Ireland. We know that paramilitary hate crime is barely even recorded by the PSNI in this jurisdiction. We know that, in some places, including parts of north Belfast, the UDA, for example, sees itself as some kind of de facto, quasi- or crypto housing association. Those people arrogate to themselves the right to say who does and does not live in an area. Therefore, while we need to see hate crime legislation and more resource for the PSNI, we need to be grown up in this society about acknowledging the fact that paramilitaries continue to wield a pernicious and unacceptable power. They want to be able to say who lives in a community and who does not. Clearly, when it suits them, they coordinate racist violence on our streets. Until we are willing to confront that, to mandate the police to confront it, to retool the tackling paramilitarism, criminality and organised crime programme and to change the criminal justice incentives to properly tackle that, we are not going to get anywhere. In moving the motion, I urge all in the Chamber to finally get real about hate crime, to take our responsibilities seriously and not just to engage in warm words and rhetoric but to back that up with resourcing for the police and the criminal justice system, more broadly, with clarity on hate crime legislation and with every word and deed that is needed to tackle the upsurge of hate in our society.

1,486 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification