The Northern Ireland Assembly agreed in November 2016 to bring the law in Northern Ireland in line with England and Wales, where disregards have been available since 2012.

In a tweet yesterday, former Justice Minister Claire Sugden said it was her “proudest achievement during my short time as minister”.

The new law facilitates the removal of convictions from police and court records of historic offences where the activity was consensual, with a person aged 17 or over, and is no longer an offence today.

Disregarded convictions will be considered as never having happened and will no longer appear on criminal records or in any criminal record checks. There will be no requirement to disclose the abolished offence, for example on job application forms or in court cases.

To have historic convictions disregarded, an application must be made to the Department of Justice. If an application is successful, the person is also, by law, pardoned for the offence.

Anyone who was convicted of an abolished homosexual offence and who has since died is also, by law, pardoned for the offence.