Debate contribution: Fireworks Legislation

Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on 18 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Doug Beattie MC

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 5244805

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will reflect on those indoor fireworks. I thought that they were absolutely fantastic, and they are still out there. You can still buy them, so, if any Members want a bit of nostalgia, they should get online and buy themselves a set of indoor fireworks. I remember speaking to some of my friends in England and telling them about that. They thought that I was joking when I told them that there were indoor fireworks. They could not believe it.

The motion is clear and simple: it is about future-proofing our legislation on the use of fireworks; nothing more. The argument that we have the most robust legislation on these islands, which is what it says in the amendment, is subjective, because Ireland has a near total ban on fireworks. The legislation covers well fireworks that are used correctly, including at organised events. The problem is the proliferation of fireworks and the misuse and illegal use of them, which is having a major impact. Things have changed in the past 20 years. That is just fact. I will reflect on areas of the current legislation and examine the effectiveness that we talk about. The first thing that I have to be clear on is that we want everybody to adhere to the law on fireworks. The Minister summed it up really well: a lot of what we are talking about is illegal use of fireworks, which is a criminal justice issue. However, there are loopholes in there that we have to try to close. The age for purchase of fireworks is 18, but we all know that companies out there will sell fireworks to people who are under 18. They will not ask for proof of age or whether somebody has a licence. About an hour before the debate started, I checked that myself.

Just let me get through my remarks a bit. In fact, go ahead.

You are absolutely right, Minister, but here is part of the problem: those fireworks are not coming from within the United Kingdom or these islands; a lot of them are coming from international suppliers and shippers. We have a problem there. Fireworks licensing — both year-round licensing and temporary licensing — is done by the Department of Justice. I think that there are around 500 permanent licences out there, give or take 50 or so, and I am not sure how many temporary licences are out there — I could not get a hold of those figures — yet the smuggling of fireworks across the border has increased, as have online sales. Fireworks are now far more available than they were 20 years ago. That is just a simple fact. Given that fact alone, the legislation should be reviewed. Indeed, as I have mentioned, many online sales go unchallenged. The legislation also talks about a curfew on the use of fireworks, which is between 11.00 pm and 7.00 am, as it is for most things. That is pretty normal. However, some fireworks are sold as having added noise. That is how they are sold: with added noise. That is not like the continuous humming of machinery; it is loud bangs — added noise — of up to 120 decibels. That is well beyond what is acceptable at 11.00 pm for many people. The World Health Organization, for example, says that 85 decibels risks hearing damage, yet we have 120-decibel fireworks. I will touch on that in a minute. The Minister is right to say that we do not have a say in that, because it is not a devolved matter. We have sales periods from 15 October to 10 November and 12 December to 31 December, and for various cultural events, such as the Chinese New Year and Diwali. I think that sales begin two days before the start of each of those events and go on until just afterwards. However, there remains concern about year-round online sales that can circumvent those time periods.

I will just get on, Minister, because you are probably going back to the exact same thing.

I will come to you if I have time, if you do not mind. Northern Ireland follows the rules of the EU due to the Windsor framework, which means that it diverges from the UKCA marking. Indeed, it retains the EU laws that set the decibel limit at 120. How do you get round that? You do it by having rules that reduce the explosive content in fireworks and not letting other ones in. I think that, at present, the maximum here is 1·3 grams. If you made it 1 gram, you would reduce the decibel level. It is simple fact — simple maths. We can do that by saying that we do not allow fireworks to come in that have over 1 gram of explosive content. If you break the rules — for example, if you were to sell outside permitted periods without a licence — the penalties are pretty hefty already: up to six months' imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine. We had one such case just last year in Bellaghy, where an individual was arrested for selling thousands of illegal fireworks. There has been no outcome of that — certainly not that I know of — but there was an arrest. We have had no bang to that particular issue. If you are under 18, possessing fireworks, throwing fireworks or breaching the fireworks curfew could get you a fine of up to £5,000. That is pretty hefty. I have seen far less for other offences. We all know that under-18s do it: we know that it happens this time of the year, and we know about antisocial behaviour. Yet, very few under-18s are arrested for possession of fireworks. Why? The police confiscate the fireworks and send the young people on their way. That is what they do, whether we believe it or not. They want to deal with things quickly and get the fireworks off the street. I will give way to the Minister if she still wants to intervene.

There are many things that we are talking about. If we review the legislation, we can try to close some of the loopholes. The problem with the Alliance Party's amendment is that all that it wants to do is increase the sentences. It does not want to review. I absolutely get what the Minister said about resources — I do not envy her — but the legislation needs to be reviewed because we need to see how things have changed in the past 20 years.

I will see whether I can give you a bit of time. There are things that we can look at. I will just fire them out. Let us increase awareness of the misuse and the effect of fireworks. It is about education. Let us reduce the explosive content of fireworks and create low-noise options. We can do that. Let us have fireworks exclusion zones around hospitals, farms and animal rehoming centres. Let us ban for life any businesses from selling fireworks if they are caught selling outside dedicated times, selling to under-18s or importing illegally. Let us have a mandatory legal duty on all organisations that conduct fireworks displays to inform homes that may be affected. I give way.

First, you need to understand the problem. You cannot understand the problem unless you grab hold of the legislation and say, "I'm going to go through this. I'm going to review this. I'm going to see where the loopholes are". You are absolutely right: some solutions could be delivered at a local level, but some of them will need something else or something higher. Somebody might need something that closes a loophole that we identified because we reviewed the legislation. Let us stop all fireworks in residential areas, unless they are licensed public displays. Let us reduce the curfew from 11.00 pm to 10.00 pm because of older people. Let us proactively tackle the antisocial behaviour that is linked to fireworks. Let us deal with the online sale of fireworks to give legal clarity. Let us review the legislation, as per the motion that was moved by my colleague Robbie Butler.

1,370 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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