Naomi Long

Justice minister Naomi Long yesterday told MLAs that there was “insufficient time and resource” to introduce a standalone bill, but committed to making significant reforms through other forthcoming bills.

A review of hate crime legislation led by Judge Desmond Marrinan concluded in 2020 that Northern Ireland should overhaul its hate crime laws to adopt a statutory aggravation model similar to that in Scotland.

Mrs Long said the statutory aggravation model would still be introduced, but in a forthcoming Sentencing Bill which she plans to introduce next year.

She also said that protections for victims and witnesses, including “automatic eligibility for consideration of special measures and protection from in-person cross-examination by the defendant in hate crime cases”, would be included in a forthcoming Victims Bill.

The minister said “focusing the limited resources available to the Department on delivery of these specific, and most impactful proposals rather than seeking to deliver the entirety of Judge Marrinan’s recommendations via a single, standalone Hate Crime Bill represents the only realistic means of ensuring the progression of this legislation within this mandate and of expediting protection and support for victims”.

However, she added that she intended to implement the remainder of Judge Marrinan’s recommendations “in due course, subject to the usual approvals, and to continue the policy development work required to develop legislation for the next mandate”.