Northern Ireland faces a “permacrisis” from recurring race riots and may need to use military bases to shelter people burnt out of their homes, government documents reveal. Officials fear the region faces prolonged instability and that a single incident, local or international, could spark widespread disorder.
The stark warnings say some displaced families have “gone off-grid” for security and that authorities may struggle to provide safe emergency accommodation if renewed unrest erupts. Stormont officials painted the bleak portrait amid a summer of anti-immigrant violence in Ballymena, Larne and other towns that forced scores of families to flee.
“This is a permacrisis situation due to the recurring nature of public unrest,” an official at the executive office of the first minister and deputy first minister noted during a multi-agency meeting on 3 July. The documents reveal that officials took the public housing register offline for at least six weeks and that foreign health workers were offered personal safety alarms and security escorts.
The disclosures are included in hundreds of pieces of correspondence obtained through freedom of information requests by the Detail. The official exchanges show the extent of concern that recent racial violence could escalate into a much graver outbreak. Immigrants have trickled into Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday agreement but ethnic minorities still account for just 3.4% of the population.
A campaign of vandalism and intimidation has for years targeted non-white families, especially in loyalist areas of County Antrim. Riots in England in July 2024 spread to Belfast, where mobs targeted foreign-owned businesses. Ballymena erupted in June this year when mobs attacked the homes of Roma families. A vigilante group in east Belfast challenges dark-skinned males to produce identity documents.
The Stormont documents show how officials are bracing for more crises. Council staff organising emergency accommodation faced intimidation, with one official writing that “secure MoD sites might be only option”. The riots subsided in mid-June, averting the need for Ministry of Defence sites. A Stormont spokesperson said authorities had established coordination groups to improve community relations and tackle racism.
