Justice minister Naomi Long says football banning orders 'lawful' in Northern Ireland

Naomi Long says authorities can still legally issue banning orders for Irish league football – after their power to do so was called into question over a failure to update legislation to reflect changes in how the game is run in Northern Ireland.

Stormont’s justice minister says that legal advice she commissioned showed that regulations controlling behaviour at local grounds are still effective – citing 1950s legislation to prevent laws from becoming outdated.

placeholder image — Powers to regulate supporter conduct at NI football grounds have been called into question.

However, that position has been described as “laughable” by Jamie Bryson, who first raised the issue in a case involving the Irish Football Association (IFA). He had said the powers weren’t enforceable as the law hadn’t been updated after the IFA stopped running top domestic leagues over a decade ago.

The Justice (NI) Act 2011 included provisions to regulate sport here – including banning orders and powers to deal with violent or offensive conduct in local grounds.

However, rules were not updated to reflect the fact that top flight teams now play in a league run by a separate entity – the Northern Ireland Football League Ltd (NIFL). The law specifies that in relation to local football it covered the IFA Premiership and the IFA Championship, which haven’t been in existence since NIFL took over running the premier and first divisions in 2013.

The justice department (DoJ) had pointed to the Department for Communities over the failure to update the regulations – but they denied any role. Now, it appears that the DoJ is content that the legislation is valid whether it is updated or not.

Minister Naomi Long told the News Letter: “Having secured legal advice on this matter, I am satisfied that the continued operation of the Football Banning Order powers, and associated sports ground offence provisions contained in the 2011 Act, is lawful by virtue of the ‘always speaking’ provision of the Interpretation Act (NI) 1954.

“This operates to prevent statutes from becoming outdated, including in instances such as this where organisations and sports championships are renamed”.

In response to the minister’s statement, Mr Bryson said: “This does not pass the laugh test. Laughable through it is, it’s premised upon it being ‘renamed’. It was not a mere renaming, but a completely new organisation.

“Any reading of the interpretation act must be a proper reading. I suggest the DOJ go and read it.”

The PSNI – who prosecute in such instances – has declined to give a view on the matter, referring instead to the minister’s statement.