St Patrick’s Day Partnership Success

I was delighted to see that there was no repeat of the serious violence seen in previous years in the Holyland area of South Belfast over the St Patrick's Day period.

I know that there were still a small number of isolated incidents, which are totally unacceptable, but the extent of disruption and disorder was nowhere near the scale of that experienced previously.

It is important that I acknowledge the hard work behind the scenes which has taken place over the weeks and months leading up to St Patrick's Day. Operations like this one do not happen by chance and require months of preparation and planning. I applaud the work of our partners from Belfast City Council, Queen’s University, the University of Ulster, SOS Bus and the Belfast City Church who supported the planning process and who worked on the ground with police officers from the Thursday through to St Patrick’s Day. Without their support we simply could not have achieved our goal which was to create a safer environment for all the people of the Holyland area.

There were a small number of arrests, 13 in total. This was not because police did not proactively seek to make arrests but due to the impact the police operation, in partnership with other agencies, had on anti social behaviour and criminality. I welcome the responsible behaviour of most of those in the area over the weekend and the universities for their swift and decisive action taken in respect of the very small number of students who have been arrested.

It is important, however, that I reassure those who live in the area that the police, and partners, will continue to work together to tackle anti social behaviour and criminality throughout the year.

The events of last night following the football match in Londonderry/Derry remind us that peace within and between communities can at times be very fragile and everyone has a responsibility to behave appropriately and within the law. We must all work tirelessly in partnership with individuals, communities, agencies and elected representatives to ensure that everyone enjoys the peace and stability that they rightly deserve.