Written question AQW 36037/22-27
Written question by Ms Cara Hunter on .
- MLA
- Ms Cara Hunter
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 21 November 2025
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 36037/22-27
- Department
- Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
- Business
- To the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
- Assembly identifier
- Document 460585
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, given that the Air Quality Standards Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 and the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 place a statutory duty on his Department to identify, assess and reduce all significant sources of harmful pollutants, including PM2.5 and PM10, to detail (I) any assessment his Department has undertaken of emissions from bonfires; (ii) any measures implemented to mitigate their impact on air quality and public health; and (iii) how his Department coordinates with local councils and the Public Health Agency to ensure that these duties are effectively met in the absence of routine monitoring.
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: 0.07 (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 (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Parades, bonfires and commemorations.
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.04 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.05 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.07 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.07 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.74 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.26 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 05:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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