To ask the Minister for Communities what schemes are available to support places of worship subject to criminal behaviour.

While my Department is not responsible for crime and justice issues, I share the member’s concerns on this issue.

My Department has policy interest in faith communities from a community development perspective and to that end we provide funding support for a Community Faith Forum.

The Forum provides a platform for engagement between the faith sector and officials from across Executive departments.

As a result my Department has previously received correspondence on this issue, which has been shared with The Department of Justice for further consideration, as well as with the Executive Office, which is the lead department for Good Relations and the implementation of the Race Equality Strategy.

We have also facilitated discussions between the Forum and the Department of Justice, most recently in December twenty nineteen, when attacks on places of worship was discussed.

A further engagement between the Department of Justice and the Faith Forum is planned for December.

Any future scheme to support places of worship subject to criminal behaviour will be a matter for Department of Justice.