Member's statement: Nexus NI: Funding
Member's statement by Miss Nuala McAllister on .
- MLA
- Miss Nuala McAllister
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 4 March 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Nexus NI: Funding
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4254006
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise this afternoon to highlight the situation around funding for specialist counselling services for survivors of sexual violence. Nexus has been providing a specialist service for five years, fully aware that it would come to an end on 31 March — this month. However, Nexus and, indeed, members of the Health Committee did not expect that there was to be no replacement service, despite the tender process initially beginning last year. Nexus has been supporting over 7,000 individuals, with 400 people in ongoing therapy and almost 800 on waiting lists, but we were told that, as of last Thursday at 5.00 pm, the service could not take on any more new referrals. That means 175 new referrals per month. At a time when we are supposed to be tackling violence against women and girls across all Departments here, what kind of message does that send? The prevalence of sexual violence in our community stands at one in four women, one in eight men and one in six children having experienced it. Those referrals now have nowhere to go except to the GP general mental health service. That is not to say that there will not be specialist training and counselling there, but it is not simply about saving money, it is about offsetting the burden. It will be displaced from one service and simply placed on to another. We need to ensure that, if we are serious about tackling violence against women and girls, we work as one. It is not just about a financial question of saving pennies but, in the long term, spending pounds. It is an ethical and moral question, and we have an obligation to the public to ensure that we end violence against women and girls in all forms and say that, where women and children are still at risk, we will stand by them and have the necessary support for them.
318 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 (0.96).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.98).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.96 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.05 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.98 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.02 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.66 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.34 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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