Debate contribution: Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
Debate contribution by Mr Justin McNulty on .
- MLA
- Mr Justin McNulty
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 27 October 2022
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Assembly Business
- Heading
- Election of Speaker and Deputy Speakers
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4178374
Read the official Assembly record
Text
In contemplating my contribution as an SDLP MLA, I reflected on a Native American proverb that proclaims:
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.”
I am lucky to have three bright and brilliant young men from my old school, Abbey Christian Brothers' Grammar School in Newry, shadowing me on work experience this week: Oisin Harte, Andrew McGuinness and Josh Turley. Sophie Keane from Sacred Heart Grammar School was with me last week. Those are four people who give me tremendous hope for the future. Oisin, Andrew and Josh are sitting in the Gallery today. I promised them that I would use my time in the Chamber to voice their views, advance their hopes and share their fears. I asked them what needed to be said, and this is what they told me:
"Members of this Assembly have a responsibility to represent and deliver. The people you serve are not leverage and should not be used as political pawns in a chess game where everyone loses. Regardless of whether you back Brexit or not, it is now time to back your people, not weaken the democracy we depend on. Holding this Chamber and our Executive to ransom is holding the people to ransom: holding families and businesses to ransom, struggling with a cost of living and a cost of doing business that is out of control; holding your young people to ransom; holding people languishing on health waiting lists to ransom; holding those who are waiting for a home to ransom; holding children with special educational needs to ransom; holding workers waiting for fair pay to ransom; holding us all to ransom. The DUP attack Sinn Féin for abstentionist MPs even though the DUP has abstentionist Ministers. Sinn Féin attack the DUP for collapsing the Executive in 2021 even though Sinn Féin did the same for three years in 2017. It is so disheartening for everyone to be sidelined by their deadlock. The question is: what are you going to do now? If MLAs are serious about making this place work, then they should get back to work. Finding a solution to the protocol would be made so much easier if parties in this Chamber sat down together, reached an agreement and fought for a solution together from a position of power in an Executive. You cannot fix your past by sacrificing our future. We want job prospects, and we want climate action. We want shelter for the homeless and food for the hungry. We want justice and fairness for the downtrodden and the marginalised. We want our parents and grandparents looked after when they are sick. We want to view our futures with confidence, with ambition and with excitement."
From their lips to God's ears. Through a combination of frustration and despair, so many of our young people opt to build their lives somewhere other than here. That is a poor reflection on the ambition and the competence of these institutions. This latest needless crisis must be resolved before the damage becomes irreversible. I have spoken here about the old Irish tradition of meitheal, in which men and women of all creeds worked in unity to win the harvest. Through hard toil, mutual respect and honest endeavour, communities across this land safeguarded one another by spilling their sweat with and for each other. My God, even a fraction of that ethos would make a world of difference in this place. Is it too much to ask for us to come together to spill our sweat for the people whom we serve? The three young men watching you in the Chamber today have spoken clearly. They want our shared home place to work, thrive and prosper. They want to look to the future with hope, confidence and excitement. They want you to do your duty and get back to work. Just do it. I started with a proverb, and I will finish with one:
"Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine."
We live in one another’s shadow. We rely on each other for shelter from the storm.
686 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: 0.10 (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).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.79).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- 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 | 0.11 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.05 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.06 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.32 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.10 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.79 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.03 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.17 |
| Adopts it | 0.01 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.20 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.20 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.17 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.15 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.09 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.