Debate contribution: Fireworks Legislation

Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on 18 November 2025.

MLA: Mr Jon Burrows
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 18 November 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Fireworks Legislation
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5244661

Text

It is refreshing to again be talking about issues that are kitchen-table politics. Last night, the issue was the cost of living, and, today, it is one that affects our constituents up and down the length of our country. Pet owners and farmers in particular talk frequently about the impact on their animals when fireworks are set off. We need to listen to that loud and clear call from across communities. This is a cross-community issue that should unite us. Something needs to change fundamentally around fireworks legislation. There are two key problems, if you want to distil them. One is that there is an unpredictability with fireworks. When are they going to go off? The other problem is the loud noise that they make. All the enforcement in the world will not change those two things; only fresh laws can.
I will give way towards the end. I want to outline some testimony that I have heard from pet owners. I have surveyed some people and asked them to give me their personal examples. In my constituency, Jeffrey, a giant rabbit, died of a stroke this Halloween. Buddy the dachshund is still missing in Northern Ireland after bolting when a rocket exploded without notice. A sighthound called Rosie had a fatal stroke after fireworks were set off. A red panda in Edinburgh, which was up a tree in a zoo, had a stroke when it heard a firework and fell down. Its orphaned baby died a few weeks later. This is serious stuff, and it needs to be taken seriously. We also have issues with livestock up and down the country. For what? To have bangs — unpredictable noises that people cannot manage — during the week of Halloween? That can be changed, but laws are needed. I find it incongruous that the Alliance Party's amendment is about toughening up existing legislation for fireworks. As I said in my earlier intervention, that party — certainly the Justice Minister — has proposed a consultation on downgrading penalties for crimes such as burglary, fraud, antisocial behaviour and assault of police officers to a ticket.
I will not give way at the moment. I will come back in a second.
OK, thank you. What sort of society do we live in when we want to throw a heavier book at those who have fireworks instead of changing the law, but give a slap on the wrist to those who assault our police officers —
— commit burglary or fraud —
— or who commit assault occasioning actual bodily harm?
The detail is in the consultation document that you issued.
I will give way in a second. There is an incongruous thing there. The Alliance Party also proposes to reduce the age of criminal responsibility. There is, perhaps, merit in that, but many —.
Yes, but this is about enforcement, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I will come to that.
It is very difficult to enforce legislation when, outside of the main events, the people who have the bangers and fireworks that cause the problems are mostly children. They generally fall outside typical prosecutions and tend to get diversions and cautions. So, enforcement is not the answer. The answer is a change to the legislation that allows for noise reduction and specific time periods in which fireworks can be used
I will give way in literally 30 seconds. That will allow pet owners to plan accordingly. I declare an interest — I am going to give way in 10 seconds — in that my dog, Nancy, suffers very significantly from anxiety. I see it myself: we cannot cope over the two weeks of Halloween because we do not know when the fireworks are going to go off.
The point of the motion is to highlight the fact that this is a significant issue that we need to address.
I know that some people find it funny, but many people up and down the country —.
Allow me to speak. Many people up and down the country do not find it amusing. We need to impress on Westminster that there are issues and that we need support in order to address them. Fireworks here have got out of control. They are being set off right throughout the year, while the PSNI's resources are entirely stretched. It therefore comes down to the enforcement point. Only this week, it has emerged that, on the issue of cybercrime, for one of the most dangerous predators that we have ever seen, the police did not have the resources to triage in order to deal with his phone quickly enough. It is being suggested that the police will drop things to do more enforcement of fireworks laws, but we need to live on planet reality. We need an acceptance right across the House —.
It is a matter of record that the PSNI could not get those things examined. There is a backlog of devices owned by people who were abusing children and by people who were involved in domestic violence. Anyone who thinks that the PSNI will drop all of that to deal with the enforcement of fireworks laws is wrong. The answer is to change the law, make representations to Westminster, deal with the noise and deal with the unpredictability of fireworks legislation. All that needs to be done for pet owners and farmers —
— up and down the country.

903 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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