When Do Words Become Hate Speech in NI?

While hate crimes involve an act like assault or vandalism motivated by prejudice, the law in Northern Ireland also treats hateful expression as a serious offence in itself. As the Marrinan Review noted, “hate speech offences are generally considered separate to and apart from hate crime laws”. This is a crucial distinction.

To recap: a hate crime requires an underlying criminal act (the what) plus a biased motive (the why). The hate element is currently only addressed at sentencing.

Hate speech, however, operates differently. Specific laws create stand-alone offences for words, symbols, or behaviour that are illegal precisely because they express hate.

These laws “criminalise conduct which would not otherwise be criminal”.

For example, the Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 prohibits sectarian or abusive chanting at sports events based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.

More broadly, the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 is a powerful tool. It criminalises threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour intended or likely to “stir up hatred or arouse fear” on grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability.

On paper, this law could address a wide range of hateful conduct seen in Northern Ireland today. Yet, as Judge Marrinan found, it has been largely dormant: “Historically, [the 'stirring up' provision] has been little used and there continues to be limited awareness of the law” (para. 100).

To counteract this, Marrinan recommended updating the 1987 Order, creating new rules for online hate, and — critically — consolidating all hate crime and speech laws into one coherent bill (Recommendation 31).

In September 2024, the Minister of Justice effectively shelved the recommendation citing a lack of time and resources, and opted to focus only on hate crime law as an initial step.

With comprehensive reform delayed, the Department of Justice has an urgent, immediate duty: it must rectify the “limited awareness” of the law that Marrinan identified in 2020.

We call on the Department to immediately issue clear guidelines to police and prosecutors on applying the Public Order (NI) Order 1987. This law exists for moments like July 2025 in Moygashel, where an effigy of Black asylum seekers was burned on a bonfire — a textbook example of behaviour that could “stir up hatred.”

Authorities must be equipped to use the full legal toolkit they already possess to confront public, hateful intimidation.

This blog looks at NI law around hate expression in the form of graffiti and signage. In addition, a forthcoming guest blog will address new PSNI guidance around its response to public displays including flags and emblems.