Draft Budget could lead to ‘lasting damage to the justice system’

Stormont Justice Minister said the current allocation would see extremely long waits in the courts and fewer police officers.

Laganside Court in Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Archive)

The current draft Budget could lead to “lasting damage” to Northern Ireland’s justice system, Naomi Long has said.

The Stormont Justice Minister said she understands that with the current amount of money available no department will get all it wants.

However, she warned that the current allocation for her department in the three year Budget would “ultimately undermine confidence in policing and justice”.

PSNI officers patrol the student area of Belfast known as the Holylands. (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Archive)

She said it would lead to “extremely long waits in court, extremely long waits for those who work in the justice system to be paid, but also an increase in anti-social behaviour and non-responsiveness of police officers because of lack of numbers”.

“Therefore it is important that not only the police service but the entire justice system is adequately funded,” she told MLAs during Justice Minister questions.

The current draft three year Budget was put out for public consultation but its future has been thrown into doubt following the resignation of First Minister Paul Givan which also removed deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office.

Ms Long said the Executive had not agreed the draft Budget, only that it would go out for consultation.

However, she said the “worst possible outcome” was for the public not to know what the final budget allocations will be.

“It is important that we’re able to get some kind of certainty around the Budget because whatever our departmental complaints about the current draft Budget, the worst possible outcome is for people not to know what the Budget will be,” she said.

“We know that’s already having an impact on many of our third sector partners who are having to put staff on protective notice. We’re going to lose talented people who are carrying out essential work on behalf of the department as a result of them having no certainty in terms of their employment.”

Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long (David Young/PA) (PA Wire)

Ms Long said Chief Constable Simon Byrne has spoken about a reduction in police numbers “in hundreds, not tens”.

The Justice Minister also disputed figures recently given by Finance Minister Conor Murphy as her department’s baseline increasing by 2.9%, 3.9% and 3.3% across the three year Budget period.

“In my opinion this is misleading as it includes security funding of £31.2m which is an ongoing commitment from the UK Government to assist with reserved policing costs linked to the prevalent level of security threats. It is not part of the Department of Justice baseline,” she told MLAs.

“In addition the funding for domestic and sexual abuse strategy has been included in full in the Department of Finance calculations when in reality it will be shared across a number of departments.

“Removing those two elements means a baseline decease in the first year of 0.1%, an increase of 0.7% and 0.1% in year two and three respectively.”

She added that further progress towards achieving the New Decade New Approach commitment of 7,500 police officers would not be possible unless further funding is made available.

“In fact, with an allocation of only £14.8m this would reverse the uplift in headcount under way in 2021/22,” she said.