SALLY ROONEY HAS said she can no longer “safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest” due to her support for the proscribed group Palestine Action.

The Mayo author, best known for her novels Normal People and Conversations with Friends, won the Sky Arts Award for literature for her fourth novel, Intermezzo.

She was unable to collect the award in London on Tuesday, with her editor, Faber publisher Alex Bowler, attending the ceremony on her behalf.

Bowler read a statement from Rooney to the audience, in which she explained the circumstances.

“I wish that I could be with you this evening to accept the honour in person, but because of my support for non-violent anti-war protest, I’m advised that I can no longer safely enter the UK without potentially facing arrest,” the statement said.

In that context, I want to thank you all the more warmly for honouring my work tonight and to reiterate my belief in the dignity and beauty of all human life, and my solidarity with the people of Palestine. Thank you.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK on 5 July after claiming responsibility for spray-painting two Voyager planes at an RAF base in June.

Rooney has said that she intends to continue supporting the group, including donating earnings from her books and BBC adaptations of her work.

In August, Downing Street warned Rooney that her actions could constitute a terrorist offence under UK law.

Legal experts have noted that providing support or funding with the intention of aiding proscribed groups is an offence under Section 15 of the Terrorism Act 2000, potentially subjecting her to arrest without a warrant.

Rooney has publicly defended her support of Palestine Action, previously stating that she will continue her activism despite the ban.

“If that makes me a supporter of terror under UK law, so be it,” she wrote in the Irish Times last month.

Since the proscription of Palestine Action, over 1,600 people have reportedly been arrested in the UK in connection with their support of the group.

Rooney also provided backing for a legal challenge by Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, against the Home Office over the ban.

Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the ambassador of the State of Palestine in Ireland, said that Rooney “is using her voice to call out international law and human rights violations in Palestine.

“I hope these calls result in practical actions that will stop the horrors we’re witnessing carried out by Israel in Palestine; to stop the genocide and forced displacement and end the Israeli occupation,” Abdalmajid said.

In Westminster, Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson would not comment specifically on the author’s comments, but said: “There is a difference between showing support for a proscribed organisation, which is an offence under the Terrorism Act, and legitimate protest in support of a cause.”

Additional reporting by Press Association