Member's statement: Assembly Committees
Member's statement by Mr Jim Allister KC on .
- MLA
- Mr Jim Allister KC
- Party at the time
- Traditional Unionist Voice
- Date
- 12 February 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Assembly Committees
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4217624
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Yesterday in North Antrim, we buried one of the greats of our education system. I refer to the sudden, sad passing of Mr Tom Skelton, the principal of Dalriada School in Ballymoney. Mr Skelton epitomised everything that a headmaster should be through the leadership, the vigour and the vision with which he led Dalriada. The indelible mark that he has made for good on so many generations of children will live long after him. I want to put on the record our sympathy to his wife, his four children, his sister and the wider family. We have truly lost a great in North Antrim. I turn to the discrimination against minority voices in the Assembly in regard to the Committee allocations. Last week, we had a carve-up by the main parties and then an offer of the crumbs to the four of us in this corner of the Assembly. Of course, those crumbs did not meet any of the desires of those of us who have been sent here on a mandate equal to that of everyone else. Of course, in the Business Committee, it was made sure that there was no representative from this corner until that carve-up had been completed. The result, of course, in my case, is that I have been denied a place on the EU/Brexit Committee because deep-dive scrutiny is not what is required. It is the form rather than the substance of scrutiny that the protocol-implementing parties in the House wish to see. On that Committee or not, elsewhere, I will continue to shine a light on the dark deeds of colonial rule from the EU in this place. Finally, I raise the considered and irrefutable contribution of Lord Dodds, Lord Morrow and Sammy Wilson in Saturday's 'News Letter', when the spin and the myth from the DUP leadership about the Irish Sea border being gone, Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom being restored and the DUP's seven tests being met was well and truly exploded. The dissembling of the DUP leadership was demolished in that article. I encourage others in the House who share that trio's truth to speak up and not to hide their light under a bushel or be intimidated out of saying what they really think.
377 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Not flagged on a second assessment, because Jev’s answers did not settle it. The reasons are given below.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.46 (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 adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.63).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- The answers did not meet either automatic 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.
Second assessment
Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works
- Verdict
- Not flagged
- Public interest or divisiveness
- Mixed
Against the published rubric
The statement has three parts: a tribute to a late school principal, a complaint that smaller parties were given only "crumbs" in Committee allocations, and an attack on another party's leadership over the Irish Sea border. The language is heated, including "dark deeds of colonial rule from the EU" and "protocol-implementing parties". But the target is a set of trade and sovereignty arrangements and the record of named politicians, not a community, its culture or its symbols. It does not set unionists against nationalists or portray any group as a threat. Under the rubric, criticising a party's policies or record is not an identity-based attack.
Public interest or divisiveness
The tribute and the complaint about smaller parties' representation on Committees are ordinary representative business. The closing section is partisan point-scoring, using inflammatory constitutional rhetoric and accusing a rival leadership of "dissembling". That rhetoric deepens political rancour over the Windsor Framework, but it is aimed at an institution and at politicians rather than at a community or group, so the activity is mixed rather than mainly divisive.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.57 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.14 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.09 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.46 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.46 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.14 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.46 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.34 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.02 |
| Adopts it (chosen) | 0.63 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.76 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.12 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.05 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.03 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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