Justice spokesperson, Doug Beattie MC MLA, said, “The hate, racism, sectarianism and vigilante behaviour that we have seen on the streets across Northern Ireland has been appalling and must be condemned by every political representative and party. To be fair, that condemnation has been forthcoming. However, words are one thing, action to eradicate it is another. Right now, law and order in Northern Ireland is being eroded, people are losing confidence, and it is close to collapse with little leadership at a political level. That sits squarely at the door of the Justice Minister.

“Our Police Service has been systematically under-resourced to the extent that the Chief Constable is literally saying he cannot provide the service society deserves. The backlog in the courts, the time it takes for cases to be heard, is a daily source of anguish for many victims. Sentencing from an out-of-touch judiciary is regularly in the headlines, as sexual crimes and violence against women and girls go largely unpunished with pitiful sentences. Added to this is the shambolic nature of the prisoner pre-release criteria, which has seen a violent offender, known to abscond when given the chance, on the run for the last nine months. Yet it took the Minister eight months to ask the Director General of Prisons to review the pre-release criteria, and she only did so when challenged.

“There remains no shared vision or strategic priorities for our Criminal Justice Board, headed by the Minister, which sees departments all pulling in different directions. There has been no movement on the Independent Review of the Policing Board, which found that the relationship between the Department, the Police and the Board was like a ‘two-legged stool’ or a ‘parent-child relationship’, recommending a new Partnership Agreement Framework. Still nothing.

“It is all well and good for the Minister to put legislation through the Assembly so she can stick it on her wall as a trophy, but right now, law and order needs clear leadership. The Minister cannot blame others for the state of justice in Northern Ireland, as her party has been the sole custodian of the post of Justice Minister. Under the Alliance Party, we have seen continuous and abject failure. The call is simple: get on with it or get out of the way so someone else can.”