Executive to issue ‘unified’ response to racist attacks

The Stormont Executive will issue a “unified” response to racist attacks in Northern Ireland when it meets for the first time since the summer on Thursday, ministers have said.

The Executive will convene at Stormont from 11am to discuss the incidents and other issues on ministerial agendas.

Speaking to BBC News on Wednesday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said the racist attacks need to be condemned “unequivocally” across society in Northern Ireland.

A number of cars were set on fire and destroyed during a racist attack in Ballymena on Sunday.

The Co Antrim town also suffered several nights of racist violence earlier in the summer.

The weekend incident in the Lisnevenagh Road area was the latest in a series of racist crimes across Northern Ireland.

Sam Carson, a farmer and landlord in Ballymena, said there has been a “campaign of hate” against him and his Filipino tenants.

Mr Lyons said the incidents were carried out by a “very small minority” and that the “vast majority want nothing to do with that whatsoever”.

He said the attacks needed to be condemned “unequivocally”, adding: “We need to make sure that we are taking action to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Mr Lyons said it is important that individual departments in the Executive had already taken action to tackle the racist attacks.

He said the Executive will issue a “unified statement” in response to the attacks.

“I think you absolutely will see that joint and unified statement – and I think there will be particular actions that each Department will take away that we can focus on.

“That’s certainly what I’m already doing within the Department for Communities – and our responsibility for housing in particular – and there has been significant engagement with the police on that.”

Responding to separate incidents recently in North Belfast, Mr Lyons said: “There’s no room for sectarianism either. That’s something else that needs to be stamped out.”

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt also said he expected the Executive to issue a “collaborative” statement.

On Good Morning Ulster, the UUP leader said he expected the incidents to be high on the agenda for the Executive.

A press conference is expected to take place on Thursday following the Executive’s meeting.