Biggest Protestant church in Northern Ireland voices fears over possible street preacher restrictions
Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant church has added its voice to concerns about the future shape of street preaching restrictions in Belfast.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has said that any redrafted law should be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights, including Article 9: Freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Belfast City Council has been mulling over restrictions to preaching, busking and protesting in the city centre since 2023.
Its Strategic Policy and Resources Committee had initially considered preachers having to apply for permits to preach, and the banning “graphic imagery” from display (meaning images used by anti-abortion protestors) – but these provisions were dropped.
Instead the bye-law drafted by the multi-party committee last month – “for the good governance of Belfast city centre and for the prevention of nuisances” – restricted any amplified preaching or busking to 70 decibels, on pain of a £500 fine.
Despite general agreement at the committee level, when the draft bye-law came before a meeting of the full council on Monday this week it was rejected, with councillors agreeing to send it back to the committee for redrafting.
DUP deputy group leader Dean McCullough said it could not support the 70db limit because it would render “amplification effectively useless”.
Meanwhile Alliance councillor Jenna Maghie said the regulations did not go “far enough”.
She was “unsure they would be effective on amplification, and they don’t deal with graphic imagery at all,” she said.
"Asking for the bare minimum to be approved because that’s what we think we might get isn’t good enough.”
She also said the level of fines was not high enough.
Green Party councillor Aine Groogan said the council had to “go back to basic principles”.
The fact the draft bye-law has been passed back to the committee raises the possibility that getting permits to preach could potentially be re-considered, as well as reductions to the decibel limit, restricting anti-abortion images, and upping the fines involved.
The Christian Institute had yesterday expressed “deep concern” about the potential effect such redrafting may have.
Today, the Presbyterian church has said in a statement to the News Letter: “As a church we remain concerned about the scope of any new bye-laws that might be introduced.
"We recognise that people should not be subject to harassment while in Belfast city centre, however, we suggest that existing legislation around harassment and anti-social behaviour may be sufficient to deal with the small number of issues that may arise.
"We would, therefore, endorse the use of such statutory powers to manage activity that falls outside of the law.
“Having said that, we believe that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for all people and there should be freedom to share this, and any opinion, in a reasonable, lawful and peaceful manner.
"Additionally, we are concerned that any proposed bye-laws may impede a number of human rights, specifically Article 9 – freedom of thought, conscience and religion; Article 10 – freedom of expression; and Article 11 – freedom of assembly and association, in a piecemeal fashion.
“It is essential that the council engage with all those who will be impacted by further proposed changes, including street preachers, to ensure that any changes are effective and enforceable without obstructing fundamental freedoms.”