Debate contribution: A5: Delivery
Debate contribution by Mr Colm Gildernew on .
- MLA
- Mr Colm Gildernew
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 5 March 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- A5: Delivery
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4253003
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank Nicola for securing an Adjournment debate that brings a very important issue back to the Chamber. I have reflected on some of the things that have been said. I live close to Aughnacloy, and a large part of the A5 runs from Kelly's Inn and right down through that section of Fermanagh and south Tyrone.
Where I live is 90 miles from Dublin airport and 60 miles from Derry. I can be in Dublin airport in the same time that I can be in Derry, and I can be there safely, with the vast majority of the road when I drive South either a two-plus-one or a motorway. The impact of that is that it starves our area of investment. When companies reach a certain size, they have to go elsewhere to get the infrastructure. Over many decades, that has restricted what is a hugely entrepreneurial area. The other issue that I want to raise in particular today is, again, related to the Aughnacloy section. All the A5 traffic on that strategic arterial route, which Maolíosa McHugh mentioned, goes through the town of Aughnacloy. The result is that at virtually any time of the day, if anyone wants to cross the main street in Aughnacloy, the traffic on the A5 both ways has to voluntarily stop to allow them to cross. The one crossing in the town is some distance from the shops and from where buses are travelling up and down the length of Ireland, and local school buses, are dropping pupils off at the shops and all of that. Older and younger people in particular are hugely vulnerable, not only to that traffic not stopping, but, when it does stop, somebody else coming around in frustration, cutting inside and going through. It is an absolute disaster waiting to happen, and it is the same with the entire stretch of the A5. Every couple of days on our WhatsApp groups at home, we get a messages telling us to avoid a certain section of the road, because there is a car on its roof or over the hedge or whatever. On the day I was travelling up to give evidence to the public inquiry on the A5, I almost collided with the back of another car. That happened as a result of what Declan McAleer mentioned, which is all the small entrances. A car was making a right turn, and there was a line of perhaps half a mile of traffic. Every one of those cars had to brake slightly harder to get stopped, and it virtually finished up in a pile-up. Those incidents are going on all the time, and it is only a matter of time until there is another serious incident. I want to acknowledge the work that Enough is Enough and the GAA community have done. Its launch night in Garvaghey was a very poignant evening. The campaigners had listed all the GAA members and their clubs, the very first of whom was Mickey O'Neill, from our club and from the town of Aughnacloy. He was a very close friend of my brother Ruairí. We were standing at a football game when we got word that, on his way to the game, Mickey had been killed on the A5. That has happened repeatedly and will continue to happen. I want to finish by pleading with those people who have objected to the road to please consider the impact of their objections. Please allow this road to be developed and allow people in our constituencies and communities to have the same level of access to safe road travel as other people.
607 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.07 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.92).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
- Subject area: Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying 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 | 0.05 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.05 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.07 | At or below not-qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.99 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.91 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.02 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:51 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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