Justice Minister Naomi Long has dismissed social media claims of a data breach within her department regarding the publication of online court lists.

The Minister moved to clarify the situation following what she described as "misconceptions and outright inaccuracies" appearing online.

Minister Long confirmed that publishing court lists is a standard procedure and that no information had been released in error. She explained that while most court details are routinely made public, exceptions are only made when a judge grants a specific request for anonymity.

The Justice Minister said: "I wish to address some of the misconceptions and outright inaccuracies being purported by some on social media. Firstly, there has been absolutely no data breach by my department. Publishing court lists is a routine process, and no data has been released in error. "It is well known that court details, other than those relating to family proceedings, are routinely listed publicly online. The exception to this, is when a request for anonymity is made to a judge. That request would be made by a legal representative or parties to proceedings. It is only a judge that can grant that anonymity and it is only a legal representative that can make the request. Staff in the NI Courts and Tribunals Service have no authority or legal standing to make such a request, let alone a decision of that nature. To suggest otherwise is misleading and completely false."

Addressing the decision to take the lists down temporarily, the Minister explained that the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service acted after being contacted by one of the parties involved in a case.

She concluded: "My department was alerted to the listing by one of the parties to the cases and it was decided at that point to temporarily suspend the list while it was refreshed. This was a precautionary measure and was not because an error had been made. I hope this clarifies the situation and puts an end to online speculation and misreporting."