Northern Ireland’s Department of Justice has moved to keep the temporary live-link regime for courts and tribunals in place for a further six months. According to the Order published on legislation.gov.uk, the instrument was made on 17 September 2026 and provides that the relevant provisions will now expire on 24 March 2027 rather than on the earlier sunset date. The procedural route also matters. The instrument was laid before the Assembly under section 96(2) of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and must be approved by resolution of the Assembly within 40 days beginning with the day on which it was made. That places the extension within the Assembly’s scrutiny process, even though the legal effect began with the making of the Order.
The legal change is narrow but operationally important. The instrument is titled the Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Provisions Relating to Live Links for Courts and Tribunals) (No.2) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026 and was made under section 90(2) of the 2020 Act. Article 2 is the key provision. It states that Parts 1 and 2 of Schedule 27 to the Coronavirus Act 2020, together with section 57 so far as it relates to those Parts, do not expire when they otherwise would have done and instead continue until 24 March 2027. In policy terms, the Order does not create a new hearing model; it preserves the current statutory basis for one that is already in use.
The Explanatory Note on legislation.gov.uk sets out what those preserved powers cover. Part 1 of Schedule 27 allows the wider and extended use of video or audio live links by all or any courts, and by a statutory tribunal. That gives the justice system continued discretion to hold proceedings with participants joining remotely where the law permits. Part 2 deals with public participation when live links are used. It also keeps in place protections against unauthorised recording or transmission of proceedings. That second limb is easy to overlook, but it is a significant part of the framework because remote and hybrid hearings raise separate issues about openness, access and the control of court material.
For court administration, tribunal staff and legal representatives, the immediate effect is continuity. Without a further extension, the broader live-link provisions would have fallen away on 24 September 2026. The new Order avoids that break and keeps the existing legal footing in place through the winter and into early spring. For court users, the change is less about a new entitlement and more about preserving an available process. Parties, witnesses and other participants remain within a system that can continue to use live links where the court or tribunal considers that appropriate. The public interest element also remains intact because the legislation continues to address how participation should work when proceedings are being conducted with remote technology.
This is the second extension made in Northern Ireland during 2026. The Explanatory Note records that the earlier Coronavirus Act 2020 (Extension of Provisions Relating to Live Links for Courts and Tribunals) Order (Northern Ireland) 2026, cited as S.R. 2026 No. 55, had already extended the same provisions until 24 September 2026. The new instrument therefore operates as a continuation measure rather than a policy reset. It shows that the Department of Justice is still relying on the Coronavirus Act mechanism to maintain live-link capacity, rather than allowing the temporary framework to lapse while wider questions about the future shape of court procedure remain outside this Order.
The formal record shows that the Order was sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 17 September 2026 and signed by Naomi Long as Minister of Justice. That gives the measure both its legal authority and its political ownership. In practical terms, the position is now clear. Northern Ireland’s temporary Coronavirus Act provisions on court and tribunal live links, public participation where those links are used, and controls on unauthorised recording will remain in force until 24 March 2027, subject to Assembly approval under the statutory timetable. For a justice system that continues to use remote and hybrid processes, that is a technical extension with real day-to-day effects.