The Minister of Justice has provided statistics which outline the highest number of convictions for an “obstruction of a road offence” in the last decade occurred in 2025.
The figures were provided to Newry and Armagh DUP MLA, Gareth Wilson in response to a request for information.
Mr Wilson asked the Minister, Naomi Long to detail the number of people that have been prosecuted and convicted, in each of the last 10 years, for offences relating to the obstruction of a public road; obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his or her duty and failure to comply with a lawful direction issued by a police officer.
While all figures in respect of the MLA’s final two questions were more or less on trend with previous years, there was an obvious spike in relation to convictions for obstructing a road in 2025.
The statistics provided by Minister Long explained that from 2016 t0 2024 there was an average of seven convictions for this type of offence per year.
The highest year prior to 2025 was 2023, when there were 10.
However, in 2025 there were a total of 11 convictions in relation to cases where there was a prosecution or conviction for at least one offence related to obstruction of a road prosecuted under the Roads (Northern Ireland) Order 1993.
Figures relate to initial disposal at courts. Appeals are not included.
Interestingly, 2025 was not a record leading year for prosecutions put forward for this type of offending.
Only 13 prosecutions were made in 2025. Yet, in 2023 there was a total of 16 prosecutions – the highest number for the 10-year period.
