Ballymena riots report: 41 pupils never returned to school as failures and lasting trauma laid bare
The scene on the Bridge Street area of Ballymena during the June riots of 2025
Thursday 15 October 2026
Forty-one children never returned to Harryville Primary School following the June 2025 riots in Ballymena, while 90% of surveyed residents who fled the town say they do not intend to return, according to a major new report exposing the devastating human cost of the violence and serious concerns about failures in public services and political leadership.
The report reveals that the school's pupil roll almost halved overnight, frightened families were left seeking emergency shelter, and staff were forced to pay for hotel accommodation after being told that people taking refuge in the school had to leave by 6pm.
It also documents years of warnings about deteriorating housing conditions, poverty, demographic change and escalating community tensions that residents say were repeatedly ignored by those in authority.
Published during Good Relations Week, which runs from 12–18 October, the Meeting, Mapping, Moving: Ballymena Recovering report draws on the experiences of residents, schoolchildren, minority ethnic families, community workers and statutory agencies to examine what happened, why it happened and what must now change.
Among its most serious findings are criticism of political leadership, inadequate coordination between public bodies, failures in private rental housing oversight and the continuing trauma experienced by families who were forced to abandon their homes.
The report proposes 12 measures to rebuild trust, including a council-led recovery coordinator, stronger landlord and employer accountability, greater investment in young people and a minimum five-year recovery framework.
Yet alongside its criticism, the report also reveals the extraordinary compassion shown by neighbours, teachers, churches, police officers and community organisations who helped protect vulnerable families during some of Ballymena's darkest days.
The 41 children who never came back
The impact on Harryville Primary School provides one of the report's most heartbreaking accounts of the disorder.
On Monday 9 June 2025, when the violence erupted, the school had 235 pupils on its roll. By the following day, that figure had fallen to 120 — a reduction of 115 children, or almost 49%.
Harryville Primary School
While some subsequently returned, 41 pupils never came back to the school.
The report records that staff never heard from 23 of those children again, leaving teachers struggling with the uncertainty of what had happened to pupils whose lives had been abruptly uprooted.
One account describes the belongings left behind in classrooms and the names still written on coat racks:
“We never heard from 23 children ever again. 41 pupils in total never came back. Their belongings left in the classroom and not knowing what to do with them. Their names scribbled on the coat racks - do we let other children use them?”
For the children who remained, the loss of classmates and friends was compounded by the fear and upheaval unfolding around their homes and neighbourhoods.
The report also describes children from displaced families experiencing nightmares months after the disorder, with some parents keeping them away from school because they feared further attacks.
School forced to pay for emergency hotel accommodation
The report raises serious concerns about the response of the Education Authority when Harryville Primary School became a place of refuge for families whose homes were under threat.
It states that the school was repeatedly told that families sheltering in the building needed to leave by 6pm, despite no alternative accommodation being provided.
Faced with distressed children and parents who were afraid to return home, the school ultimately arranged and paid for hotel accommodation from its own budget.
The report describes the circumstances as a failure of institutional preparedness, with school staff left to make decisions far beyond their normal responsibilities.
One participant recalled:
“My school staff over those 2 weeks were dealing with things they should never have had to deal with.”
The report also identifies inadequate support for schools during and after the crisis, including delays of several months before some trauma responses began.
Its findings raise important questions about the emergency arrangements available to schools, responsibility for safeguarding displaced families and whether the costs incurred by Harryville Primary School were subsequently reimbursed.
The report does not establish how much the accommodation cost or whether the school received repayment. A specific response from the Education Authority to these findings was not included in the material accompanying the report.
Nine in ten surveyed leavers do not plan to return
The scale of displacement is another of the report's most significant findings.
Evidence from a separate Inter Ethnic Forum consultation, involving people from Bulgarian Roma, Romanian Roma, Filipino, Indian, Pakistani and Romanian communities, found that 76% of respondents were no longer living in Ballymena following the riots.
The survey recorded the following breakdown:
• 24% remained in Ballymena.
• 44% relocated elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
• 26% returned to their home country.
• 6% moved to another country.
Taken together, 32% of respondents had left Northern Ireland entirely.
Among those who had left Ballymena, 90% indicated that they had no intention of returning.
The report does not provide the total number of respondents behind these percentages, so they cannot be treated as representative of every affected household or used to calculate the total number of people displaced.
However, the testimony provides a stark picture of families who had established settled lives in Ballymena before the violence forced them to leave.
One respondent asked:
“Why would we come back to somewhere that we are not welcome. All we wanted was to work and provide a good life for our families.”
Another described the terrifying experience of being evacuated with children:
“We had to evacuate our property late at night, people stood and watched as we were taken from the building with our children crying out of fear but no one said a thing. It was horrible.”
The report also records the fear experienced by someone who helped evacuate a family of two adults and four children during the disorder.
For many families, displacement meant abandoning employment, established homes, friendships and schools, with children losing the only home they had ever known.
The report includes another particularly haunting observation about the destruction left behind:
“In one house all that remained was a bible and a pencil case.”
It acknowledges that a significant number of those most directly affected are no longer in Ballymena, raising difficult questions about how their voices can be included in decisions about the town's recovery.
Years of warnings about housing and community tensions
The report identifies five interconnected factors that participants believed contributed to the conditions preceding the violence:
Housing problems and private landlord failures
Demographic change without adequate support
Social media disinformation
Political leadership failures, and
Poverty and deprivation.
Housing conditions in Harryville and Clonavon emerged as a particularly longstanding source of frustration.
Residents described absentee landlords, overcrowding involving several families in single terraced houses, poorly maintained yards and alleyways, rubbish, rats and what they regarded as insufficient enforcement of housing standards.
One resident reportedly remortgaged his own home to purchase the neighbouring property, simply to protect his family from the potential consequences of poor landlord management.
The report presents the incident as an example of the lengths to which residents felt compelled to go because existing systems had failed to address their concerns.
One participant stated:
“The streets can’t just be for landlords.”
The report argues that longstanding complaints about housing conditions and neighbourhood decline were not adequately addressed, while rapid demographic change took place without sufficient community preparation or support for new arrivals.
It cites 2021 census figures indicating that approximately 740 of Northern Ireland's estimated 1,500 Roma residents lived in Ballymena and surrounding areas — almost half of the total.
Participants described communities struggling with the pace of change, alongside migrant families arriving with limited English, inadequate support networks and significant vulnerabilities.
The report recognises that established residents had genuine concerns about housing, environmental conditions and investment, while minority ethnic families experienced hostility, discrimination and ultimately targeted violence.
It makes clear that understanding these underlying pressures does not diminish the seriousness of the racist attacks or the harm caused to innocent families.
Employers criticised over migrant worker integration
The report also challenges businesses that recruited migrant workers into Ballymena without, according to participants, taking sufficient responsibility for their welfare and integration.
One participant said:
“The economy needs workers and we got families. Firms have been let off the hook in relation to supporting their new workers to integrate.”
The report argues that employers benefited from migrant labour while responsibility for housing, language assistance, access to services and community integration was too often left to overstretched public services and local organisations.
It recommends a formal employer charter, developed through Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and relevant partners, setting minimum expectations for businesses recruiting workers from overseas.
Those expectations would include appropriate housing, language support, access to essential services and assistance in understanding and settling into the local community.
Political leadership accused of failing communities
Some of the report's strongest criticism concerns what participants described as a failure of political and civic leadership before, during and after the disorder.
Residents and community workers reported raising concerns about deteriorating housing conditions, intimidation, street fighting and escalating tensions over several years without receiving what they considered meaningful responses.
The report states that, apart from a small number of elected representatives whose efforts were acknowledged, political leadership was perceived as largely absent during the crisis.
One participant said:
“No elected representatives turned up. The only ‘civic leaders’ who came were the Presbyterian Ministers.”
That quotation reflects the experience of an individual participant rather than an independently established account of every elected representative's involvement.
Nevertheless, the report identifies the perceived absence of political leadership as one of its most repeated findings and calls for greater accountability from councillors, MLAs and MPs.
It also highlights the frustration of minority communities who experienced intimidation and hostility, and established residents who believed their concerns about local conditions had been dismissed.
Report author Karin Eyben, from public participation charity Involve, said the community engagement process repeatedly exposed what participants regarded as a fundamental democratic failure.
“One of the strongest threads throughout the community engagement process sessions was ‘the failure of democracy’ and community frustration at not being heard. Residents from majority and minority communities alike said that they had raised genuine concerns, year after year, through formal channels that produced no response. It seems that this built-up frustration eventually boiled over and the consequences were devastating for the whole community.
“This report strongly indicates the need for genuine and inclusive grassroots community development work to give those most affected and least often heard, a mechanism to participate in decision making. This is less about creating new projects, but instead looking at how to build relationships and institutions that build trust.”
The report recommends structured engagement between elected representatives and communities across different backgrounds, with attendance and actions publicly reported.
It also suggests exploring citizens' assemblies, participatory budgeting and other approaches that give residents a meaningful role in decisions affecting their neighbourhoods.
Public services failed to join the dots
Beyond individual agencies, the report identifies a wider failure to coordinate information, responsibilities and responses across public services.
Housing, education, health, employment and community safety were described as operating in separate systems, without sufficient arrangements to identify growing tensions or respond to concerns raised by residents and frontline workers.
Participants said warnings had been passed through established channels, but there was no effective mechanism to bring that information together and ensure action followed.
The report also identifies shortcomings in emergency planning, including insufficient support for schools, limited involvement of young people in discussions about community tensions and delays in trauma services.
Its central argument is that responsibility for preventing another crisis cannot rest with one organisation. Instead, the town needs a coordinated approach capable of responding to problems before they escalate.
The report calls for a named recovery coordinator, working through Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, with responsibility for connecting statutory agencies, community organisations and other partners.
It explicitly warns against creating another advisory group without the authority or responsibility to deliver practical change.
Young people left frightened and unheard
The experiences of young people form a distinct part of the report, including findings from a survey completed by 18 participants working with the Bytes Project.
Respondents identified community tensions, misinformation, people feeling ignored, perceived failures of justice following the alleged sexual assault and influences from outside Ballymena as factors contributing to the disorder.
One young person said:
“It made me feel scared in my own town.”
Another described helping friends whose families were forced to leave their homes:
“The riots affected my friends. I had to take items belonging to my friends home to keep while they moved out of their house for safety. It made me really worried.”
The survey also highlighted differences in the support young people felt able to access afterwards.
Youth clubs and youth activities were identified by the majority of respondents as the most helpful source of support, alongside trusted adults, friendships and community organisations.
However, several young people said schools had not provided opportunities to discuss what had happened.
One respondent explained:
“I got my point across being able to talk in youth club. School didn’t allow me to talk.”
The report recommends greater investment in youth services, safe community spaces and mental health support, alongside helping schools facilitate age-appropriate conversations about community relations, identity and belonging.
Young people said they wanted more activities, better relationships between different groups, greater pride in Ballymena and the freedom to feel safe in their own town.
Social media and outside influences intensified disorder
The report identifies social media, particularly TikTok, as a significant factor in accelerating the speed and intensity of the violence.
Participants described misinformation spreading rapidly, online accounts from England and the Republic of Ireland amplifying tensions and people travelling into Ballymena from outside the area.
One participant recalled the distress of watching attacks on homes belonging to pupils:
“It was a terrible night watching on TikTok our pupils’ houses being set alight. I had never used TikTok before then – it’s not good when it’s your main source of news.”
The report does not quantify how many people involved in the disorder came from outside Ballymena.
It recommends a coordinated communications strategy to challenge misinformation, improve public information during periods of tension and strengthen relationships with trusted community voices.
The proposals also include greater engagement with local media to ensure community experiences are heard alongside official statements.
Police and community organisations praised for helping families
Despite the criticism of institutional failures, the report also highlights substantial acts of compassion and practical assistance during and after the disorder.
The Inter Ethnic Forum consultation recorded the organisations and individuals from whom respondents said they received support:
• 90% reported receiving support from the Inter Ethnic Forum.
• 80% reported receiving support from the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
• 40% reported receiving support from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.
• 35% reported receiving support from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
• 25% reported receiving support from other organisations and individuals, including churches, schools, the Red Cross, Victim Support NI, friends and neighbours.
The categories overlap because respondents could receive assistance from several sources.
The PSNI received particularly positive feedback, including from families whose experiences of policing in their countries of origin had made them distrustful of authorities.
One respondent said:
“The police in our own country do not support us, we cannot trust them, but the PSNI treated us with respect and made us feel safe when things were very frightening.”
The Northern Health and Social Care Trust was also recognised for its emergency response, safeguarding work and coordination of support for vulnerable families through social workers, public health nursing and children's services.
Neighbours helped protect properties, boarded up damaged windows, provided shelter and offered practical assistance to families in distress.
The report also recognises environmental improvements in Clonavon, trauma counselling, property repairs, restorative conversations and the contribution of local churches, community groups and volunteers.
Organisations including the Harryville and Clonavon Recovery and Regeneration Group and the Inter Ethnic Forum were identified as important sources of support.
One participant reflected on the acts of kindness that received far less attention than the disorder:
“There was a lot of goodness going on. Lots of good people that didn’t go on TikTok.”
Twelve priorities for rebuilding Ballymena
The report sets out 12 proposed directions for recovery, intended to strengthen community relations, improve public accountability and address the conditions identified during the consultation.
They are:
• Establish a council-led recovery coordination function, with a named individual responsible for bringing agencies and community organisations together.
• Introduce community-based tension monitoring to identify early warning signs and escalating hostility.
• Strengthen enforcement of private rental housing standards and reinstate a landlord forum.
• Develop a coordinated communications strategy to challenge misinformation and improve crisis messaging.
• Provide intercultural understanding and awareness training across statutory agencies, schools and community organisations.
• Give young people a meaningful role in recovery decisions and invest in youth services.
• Ensure minority ethnic communities and others directly affected are genuinely represented in planning and decision-making.
• Improve community involvement in emergency planning, crisis response and long-term resilience.
• Establish a minimum five-year recovery framework with regular reviews, transparent reporting and community accountability.
• Introduce an employer charter setting expectations for the welfare and integration of migrant workers and their families.
• Recognise and resource churches, faith communities and voluntary organisations as essential recovery partners.
• Require visible and accountable engagement from councillors, MLAs and MPs, including public reporting of their participation and actions.
The recommendations are proposals rather than confirmed commitments by the organisations concerned. The report does not identify an agreed implementation budget or timetable for delivering each measure.
Kate Clifford, Chief Executive of Rural Community Network, said sustained cooperation would be essential.
“This report recommends that the specific actions needed to move forward from this deeply damaging community breakdown should sit within a minimum five-year recovery framework, with regular review points, transparent reporting and community accountability.
“No single organisation can be responsible for driving the recovery but there is a real need for a co-operative, proactive and cohesive response. The report presents the opportunity to turn the learning into visible action, stronger relationships and better systems for community relations – lessons which could be applied right across Northern Ireland.”
Radius Housing highlights courage of those who spoke out
The report followed community engagement sessions convened by Radius Housing Association in January and April 2026, including a residential gathering at Corrymeela.
Facilitated by Rural Community Network, the process brought together residents from South Ballymena and the wider town, minority ethnic representatives, schools, frontline workers, voluntary organisations and statutory agencies.
Contributors included the Carson Project, Harryville Primary School, Inter Ethnic Forum, Bytes Project, For Your Freedom and Ours, Act Now and Involve, which compiled the findings.
John McLean, Chief Executive of Radius Housing, said the testimony of those affected had been central to understanding the violence and identifying a route towards recovery.
“Our understanding of the impact of the very disturbing events of June 2025 in Ballymena, both on individuals and communities, is made possible through the testimonies of those people who have bravely come forward to share their experiences and insights.
“While the report speaks to the fear, trauma and the profound sense of loss felt by so many, the invaluable insights gathered through this process have been used to establish a route-map to stronger community relations. The way forward must always be our focus as we continue to build and grow communities that thrive, right across Northern Ireland. We are indebted to every individual who shared their experiences so openly, to inform this vital piece of work.”
Housing Executive reaffirms commitment to community relations
John Read, Good Relations Officer with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, acknowledged the distress caused by the disorder and reaffirmed the organisation's commitment to challenging prejudice and supporting inclusive communities.
“The disorder experienced in Ballymena caused considerable concern and distress for many residents and communities. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive remains committed to supporting positive community relations, promoting mutual understanding, and fostering environments where everyone feels safe, respected and valued.
“Through our Cohesion and Communities Strategy and the ongoing delivery of the Shared Housing Programme, we recognise the importance of working collaboratively with local communities, statutory partners and voluntary organisations to challenge prejudice, reduce tensions and build stronger, more inclusive neighbourhoods. Acts of racism, intimidation and violence have no place in our society, and we remain committed to promoting respect, diversity and good relations across all communities.”
The report is supported by the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive's Housing for All Shared Housing Programme, with additional support through Housing Executive Race Relations funding.
The programme forms part of the Northern Ireland Executive's Together: Building a United Community strategy.
The accompanying announcement states that £15.5 million will be invested in the St Patrick's shared housing development and associated five-year Good Relations Plan. This is a separate housing and community relations investment, rather than a newly announced £15.5 million allocation to implement the report's recommendations.
Radius Housing currently has 17 shared housing developments across Northern Ireland. Its St Patrick's Good Relations Plan includes community bridging events covering health, wellbeing, advice and advocacy.
Recovery must mean more than an end to violence
The report draws lessons from previous episodes of disorder in Southport, Oldham, Bradford and other parts of the United Kingdom, highlighting the importance of addressing longstanding social pressures rather than treating violence as an isolated event.
It recognises progress through stronger relationships, environmental improvements, community support and a greater willingness to confront difficult issues.
However, it warns that the trauma experienced by families, children, school staff and community workers cannot be resolved simply through the passage of time.
One participant reflected:
“There has been quiet restoration over the last year but people still feel stuck in sadness and hopelessness.”
The report also suggests using Ballymena's 400th anniversary as an opportunity to bring communities together through inclusive celebrations that strengthen local pride and shared identity.
Its publication now places renewed attention on whether Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, elected representatives, public agencies, landlords and employers will translate the recommendations into a coordinated programme with clear responsibilities, sustained investment and measurable progress.
The report's authors acknowledge that some of those who suffered most are no longer living in Ballymena, making their inclusion in future decisions an essential challenge.
For the 41 children who never returned to their school, the families who abandoned homes and livelihoods, and the residents still living with the consequences, recovery will ultimately be measured not by the number of meetings held or strategies published, but by whether the warnings identified in this report are finally acted upon — and whether every community in Ballymena can feel safe, heard and valued.
