Motion or amendment: Commitment to the Proper Use of Public Monies (Withdrawn in favour of revised wording)
Motion or amendment by Mr Timothy Gaston on .
- MLA
- Mr Timothy Gaston
- Party at the time
- Traditional Unionist Voice
- Date
- 14 January 2025
- Type
- Motion or amendment
- Business
- Motion · Private Members' Motion
- Heading
- Commitment to the Proper Use of Public Monies (Withdrawn in favour of revised wording)
- Assembly identifier
- Document 423574
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
Commitment to the Proper Use of Public Monies (Withdrawn in favour of revised wording)
That this Assembly affirms its commitment to the proper use of public money paid under the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination and Financial Assistance for Political Parties Scheme; believes that all Members should only use funds provided for office costs to fund work related to their constituency, not party, duties; notes that the Clerk/Chief Executive of the Assembly was due to receive, by the end of October 2024, an interim report on concerns relating to the misuse of Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination; calls on the Clerk/Chief Executive to immediately publish this report; and further calls on the Assembly Commission to publish annual audit reports detailing how money is spent by MLAs and political parties under the Assembly Members (Salaries and Expenses) Determination and the Financial Assistance for Political Parties Scheme, including information on employees’ place and hours of work, in compliance with data protection standards.
162 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: 0.05 (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 (0.91).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.04 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.91 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.05 | 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 |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 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 09:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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