Member's statement: A5: Court of Appeal
Member's statement by Mr Daniel McCrossan on .
- MLA
- Mr Daniel McCrossan
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 5 October 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- A5: Court of Appeal
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5773913
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Tomorrow, the A5 case will be heard in the Court of Appeal. I will speak about that road project's importance not just in protecting human lives and ensuring the safety of our people who travel on that road daily but in unlocking significant economic opportunities for that part of the island. To date, 57 people have lost their lives on the A5 road. There have been thousands of collisions since 2007, and hundreds have been seriously injured. People who live along the route of the A5 have been left in limbo in a state of uncertainty, and others too are very concerned about the future of the project. Of course, the Alternative A5 Alliance objection group has a lot to answer for, but that, mixed with the incompetence of the Department for Infrastructure, has led us to this place. Tomorrow is a critical day for everyone. Today, it is important to remember all those who lost their lives on the road. They were going about their daily life, taking kids to school, travelling to work and back, and never made it home to their families: that is the story of the A5. Tomorrow, I am hopeful of a positive outcome, which will serve everybody's interests and put to bed a very long outstanding problem. That said, if tomorrow does not go as the public would like it to go, serious questions need to be raised about the Department. The Sinn Féin Minister for Infrastructure needs to take a strong look and to hold a review of how the project has been mishandled by the Department over the past number of years and ended up in the state that it is in. Heads would roll if such gross incompetence played out in the private sector. Why, in this place and throughout our Civil Service, is there a serious and serial lack of accountability when it comes to decisions about capital projects and the significant cost not just to the public purse but, in the case of the A5, to human life? We have no alternative way of travelling. The people whom I represent are forced to go on to that road numerous times a day. Unfortunately, far too often, the story is that many lives have been claimed as a result of that. Tomorrow is a critical and important day for my constituents and for people from right across Tyrone, Fermanagh, Derry and Donegal. It is time we got the project done, and it is time we ensure that the people of the west get what they are truly entitled to: good-quality infrastructure to put right that wrong.
437 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: 0.06 (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).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.92).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
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 | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.06 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.99 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.91 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.02 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 16:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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