Debate contribution: Bangor and Newtownards Minor Injury Units: Closure
Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew Muir
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 30 April 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Bangor and Newtownards Minor Injury Units: Closure
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4487791
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I speak in the Adjournment debate as an Alliance Party MLA for North Down. It is important that we are able to discuss the issue. We were not able to for two years, because the institutions were not sitting. It is not lost on me that the person who secured the Adjournment topic is one of the people who voted consistently against the restoration of the institutions, which would have allowed us to consider these matters. However, we are where we are now, and we are able to consider the matter in front of us. I will be relatively brief because I do not want to delay Alex from his campaign launch in Bangor tonight. It is an important issue for the Assembly, and I recognise that the DUP has handed over its slot for the Adjournment debate to Alex. The easiest thing that the Alliance Party could have done would be to join the protest lines and vote on the motions on the matter in the council, but we did not. People have to ask themselves why we did not. The easiest thing would have been to go with the flow and not have ourselves criticised in this Adjournment debate or in council. The reason is that we believe in transformation. If we cannot do transformation of that nature in an area that covers, essentially, the distance between Newtownards and Dundonald, which is approximately 5 miles, what hope do we have of achieving the true transformation that is required in health and social care? Some people will say —.
Sorry; I will just continue. Some people will say, "But this was not Bengoa. It is not in line with No More Silos", but, in a meeting on 15 March 2023, the previous permanent secretary in Health confirmed to health spokespeople from all parties that the proposed change was in line with Bengoa and No More Silos. Whilst other people have contributed towards it, the people whom I will be guided by on the issues are doctors and medical experts. I have immense respect for the staff who work in Health and Social Care (HSC). It is an immensely challenging job. I have the utmost respect for them. I know them personally. They are family and friends. My mother worked in the NHS for decades. I will declare that, and I am proud of the service that she gave.
We owe it to them to take the difficult decisions, but we have not travelled the journey that we need to travel on transformation in Northern Ireland. When we go to the UK Government and argue for additional funding, our inability to do transformation in Northern Ireland is cast back at us, and rightly so, because the waiting lists in Northern Ireland are the longest in the whole of the United Kingdom, yet we are spending, arguably, the highest amount on health and social care. Therefore, we need to do transformation. We need to be able to take the difficult decisions. Members say that people were not happy about the position that we took, but I got involved in politics to take difficult decisions. It is easy to stand at the protest lines on these issues. I recognise the concerns about the emergency department at the Ulster Hospital, and I hope that Alex's wife has a speedy recovery. I know the pressures around this, but the solution is not to oppose change. It is to be able to face up to that and support people in their positions. I recognise that there are concerns around the consultation, but nothing is perfect in this. We could have been debating this for two years. We could have had a Health Minister in position to take a decision, but that was denied. It was denied by the DUP, Alex Easton and Jim Allister, so there is the responsibility when it comes to accountability issues with this. I conclude by saying that we owe it to Health and Social Care to take the difficult decisions, show leadership and be able to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
684 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).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.88).
- 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 | 0.06 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.09 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.09 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.88 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.10 | 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 | 0.71 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.14 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.08 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.04 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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