Debate contribution: Hate: Executive Approach

Debate contribution by Ms Connie Egan on 22 September 2025.

MLA

Ms Connie Egan

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

22 September 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Hate: Executive Approach

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5124249

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. When we distil what our responsibilities in the Assembly are and go back to the basics, it is clear that our foundational responsibility as political representatives is to do everything that we can to protect vulnerable people across our society, no matter their race, sexuality, ability or faith, and to ensure that those whom we serve in our constituencies and across Northern Ireland more widely have trust in the Government to protect them and that every person is given the best chance possible to lead a safe, fulfilling and happy life. As I speak on the motion on the Executive's approach to hate and propose the Alliance Party's amendment, I stand in disbelief and horror at the continuing hate incidents that people across our communities face. Those incidents are not just a statistic, but they are extraordinarily rising, despite probably still being under-reported. From June 2024 to June 2025, 646 more race incidents and 434 more race crimes were recorded than in the previous year. That is the highest level in a dataset that we have seen since 2004, 21 years ago. That same police data also suggests that, compared with previous years, fewer incidents of hate were committed in the name of sexual orientation, transgender identity, sectarianism and disability. However, I worry that that might be as a result of a potential decrease in those affected coming forward and having the confidence to even make that initial report of a crime. I thank the leader of the Opposition and his SDLP colleagues for tabling the motion, as it is our responsibility as MLAs to seize every possible chance to raise the experiences of those victims. I hope that Members find our amendment constructive and an opportunity to strengthen and add to the content of the motion. I also hope that the debate is an opportunity to consolidate support across the Executive and the Assembly so that we can take real action to tackle the profound hate that we have seen in our community. It was positive to see joint statements from our Executive over the past year that called for calm and condemned all forms of racism, sectarianism and hostility towards individuals of different backgrounds. However, without decisive action behind it and follow-through support from the representatives and political parties of every Minister, it is just that: a statement of words. The Alliance Party amendment seeks to achieve a few different aims. First, it seeks to align support under the Justice Minister's current plan of action to introduce hate crime legislation in her upcoming Bills. More than that, it seeks to draw clear attention to the fact that the root causes of hate go beyond the parameters of our justice system alone. Ending hate is the responsibility of every Minister, Department, politician, agency and citizen in our society. There has been a lot of discussion in the Chamber over the past year of the best way to introduce new and tougher hate crime legislation. The Justice Minister has always been committed to introducing legislation to tackle the unacceptable levels of hate in our society. The Minister and her Department are bringing that forward now, in the most efficient and effective way, through the upcoming sentencing Bill and victims and witnesses Bill. It is in that vein that I was gladdened to hear Judge Marrinan's words of fairness for the Department in the past month. He, of course, undertook the review of hate crime legislation five years ago. Judge Marrinan rightly highlighted his great disappointment at the delay that the legislation has faced, but drew attention to the fact that, given the Executive's collapse and statutory obligations for consultation, there was little more that Minister Long could have done legislatively by now other than what is being brought forward, and said that it will have "a profound impact". Alliance is committed to bringing forward hate crime legislation in this mandate. We refuse to have our hands tied by the irresponsible stop-start government that is inflicted by other parties. We hope that everyone across the Chamber can support the upcoming measures so that we can build the safer communities that all members of our Executive promised in our Programme for Government. Legislation like that which we have described today is just one way in which to tackle hate. The remainder of our amendment affirms support for the statutory and community sector under the Executive's programme on paramilitarism and organised crime, and for addressing the resourcing challenges across our justice system. Those challenges are acute. Justice and law and order are the foundation upon which our society is built. Alliance therefore welcomes the seemingly cross-party support for the greater resourcing for justice agencies that the motion could bring about. However, I challenge the amendment that has been tabled by DUP colleagues, which places the responsibility for that work and the onus to provide additional resources to justice-related agencies wholly on the Justice Minister. I agree that the funding for those organisations should increase, but we cannot ignore the fact that the Department has historically suffered from significant underfunding, particularly during the past decade, with resources continuing to be stretched thin. Nobody has highlighted that or argued that point more than the Minister herself. Stormont's block grant has increased by 66% in the 14 years to 2025-26, but, by comparison, the Department of Justice's budget has grown by just over 25% in that time. Monetary challenges do not disappear in one budgetary year; undoing that legacy will be a long-lasting challenge. While we can see that the Justice Minister has prioritised the stabilisation of police officer numbers, with the PSNI's receiving approximately 65% of her Department's budget, amongst other interventions, and that she is doing what she can with what she has, it must go further than being the responsibility of one Department. I want to come back to those who are victims of hate. Behind each of those hate incidents and crimes — those that were reported and those that were not — are families and individuals who are scared. They are victims of horrendous intimidation. We were all appalled by the race-related rioting and intimidation that took place across Northern Ireland over the past few months. In my constituency of North Down, I was deeply saddened to see instances of hateful graffiti, target signs sprayed on doors and families intimidated in their homes. Imagine being the intended audience for that. It is not good enough. It does not represent the Northern Ireland or North Down that I know, which is my home and a welcoming place. I know that most of the citizens of Northern Ireland are disgusted and outraged by those incidents. I urge Members to vote for the Alliance amendment. Ultimately, let us make this a turning point for our Executive and Assembly, a day when we get on to the same page and commit to doing something together.

1,154 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:15 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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