To ask the Minister of Health for his assessment of (i) the safe access zone at Causeway Hospital; and (ii) whether the zone should be extended as per the legislation.

My Department’s assessment of all Safe Access Zones operational in Northern Ireland is set out in the first annual report published in December 2024, as required under Section 8 of the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act Northern Ireland 2023.

Based on the evidence presented from Health and Social Care (HSC) Trusts and the PSNI and feedback that the Department has received since the introduction of the Safe Access Zones on 29 September 2023, it is the Department’s opinion that, on balance, each of the eight current Safe Access Zones has been effective in protecting the safety and dignity of protected persons.

The Department is aware that there have been eight recorded breaches of the Safe Access Zone at Causeway Hospital since its introduction and acknowledges that the ongoing continued protest presence may cause distress to members of the public passing by or attending the hospital. However, the intention of the legislation was not to remove the right to protest but rather to protect women and staff specifically from harassment, alarm or distress when attending a clinic for abortion services within the immediate vicinity of these premises. My Department is content that the Safe Access Zone is effective in doing this.

The Department does not have a role in extending Safe Access Zones. If an operator (i.e. a HSC Trust) considers that a Safe Access Zone, as established, is not providing safe access to the premises for protected persons, the operator can give notice to my Department that it wishes to extend the Safe Access Zone by a specified distance up to a maximum of 250 metres. Operators must give due consideration to proportionality when determining whether to extend a Safe Access Zone and should engage with the PSNI as part of the determination process.

My Department is content that the Northern HSC Trust have fully considered and examined the options available to it including extending the Safe Access Zone to 250m and the Department is content that Northern Trust will continue to keep this under review.