Debate contribution: Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on .
- MLA
- Mr Jonathan Buckley
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Display of Flags and Emblems Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5670632
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her intervention. I respectfully say that it is the Member who is missing my point, because she will find that, in these quarters, we have no truck — none whatsoever — with anybody who supports paramilitaries. In fact, when I talked about the review of current legislative provision, I deliberately and specifically did not even mention the terrorism legislation, which, I know, is Westminster-retained power. I talked about the Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order and other legislative provision for exploring the PSNI guidelines for dealing with such sensitive issues. The Member's party has had a front-row seat in that Department.
105 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.44 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.49).
- Subject area: Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.18 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.08 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.18 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.28 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.20 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.28 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.44 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.47 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.49 |
| Adopts it | 0.04 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.92 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.05 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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