Colleagues helped nurses move after racist attacks

A black X was sprayed across the front window of a house

The Northern Health Trust has said staff helped nurses move after their homes were targeted in racist attacks.

Chief executive Jennifer Welsh said she hoped the “hugely distressing” experience would not deter international workers from coming to work in Antrim.

Last week, eight African families were forced to leave the Ballycraigy estate after their homes were marked out with spray paint and racist material was taped to their windows.

Several families also had their car windows smashed.

Four of the eight families who had to leave their homes were employed as nurses in the Northern Trust.

A sign warning landlords to house "locals only" was taped to a pole

Ms Welsh said the trust had provided practical and emotional support to those affected, helping “find new, suitable temporary accommodation” for the families.

She said the nurses’ colleagues and other trust staff helped the families pack up their belongings, clean rented accommodation and move out of their homes.

She described the situation as “traumatic” for the families involved and said some of those affected had young children.

Ms Welsh added that “sadly there have been a number of recent incidents where staff have been subjected to racist abuse and have felt both threatened and intimidated”.

The abuse has happened predominantly to staff who have been working in the community, she said.

“Sadly the targeting of homes in the Ballycraigy estate has been the most concerning attacks on the trust’s staff," Ms Welsh said.

'Help in our time of need'

She said the trust has a diverse staff across its facilities and that it relies on international workers, adding, “quite simply we couldn’t do without them”.

These workers, she added, “have come here to support us in our time of need”.

The trust will continue to support the affected nurses and hoped that they would return to work as soon as they were able, Ms Welsh said - some have already done so.

The chief executive said the targeting and intimidation of the nurses had “deeply upset” their close colleagues.

She said it was important that people speak up and voice their support for those affected.

“I very much want to send a strong message of my support to our entire workforce, and that of our senior management, that we all condemn all these attacks,” she added.

She described the incidents as “completely unacceptable”.

A sign was taped to a window during a racist attack on a home

Responding to this BBC News NI report, the new NI secretary Hilary Benn described the series of attacks as "shocking".

"I deplore these shocking racist attacks on hardworking families, including nurses. This kind of hatred has no place in our society and I urge anyone with information to contact the police," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Local MP and former health minister Robin Swann said such attacks must be “completely condemned right across the political spectrum, so that we don’t turn off those people we need to support our health service".

“I want to make sure that the community we have is welcoming to all our health-care workers because we need them across our health service," he added.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said its investigations were ongoing.

A man was arrested in connection with number of race hate-related incidents in Antrim in recent weeks. He was released on bail pending further enquiries.