The Church of Ireland has launched a new migration and diversity hub, to help members understand issues around migration from a faith perspective.

The Church says it will “share suggestions for responding during times of tension” in the new portal on its website, and provide government statistics on immigration and trends in diversity.

It comes in the same week that government documents have suggested Northern Ireland is at risk of being gripped by a “permacrisis” of racial tensions.

This summer, riots broke out across the region, after two Romanian-speaking teenagers in Ballymena were charged with sexually assaulting a young girl.

Visitors to the Church’s new online hub will be “encouraged to remember that every number is ultimately about a group of people, each of whom is created with dignity in the image of God”.

Similar hubs have been rolled out by the Church to help members understand the cost of living and homelessness crises.

The Church of Ireland hopes it can provide “opportunities to listen to and learn from personal experiences [and] open up more ways of understanding our neighbours.”