Member's statement: A5 Fatalities
Member's statement by Mr Tom Buchanan on .
- MLA
- Mr Tom Buchanan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 7 May 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- A5 Fatalities
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4487880
Read the official Assembly record
Text
This day last week, the First Minister and deputy First Minister presented a report to the House on the North/South Ministerial Council meeting. During the deliberations on that report, I, along with other West Tyrone Members, asked questions about the proposed A5 project, which has been ongoing for over 15 years. Little did anyone in the Chamber know that before the clock would strike 12.00 last Tuesday night, to usher that day into eternity, two more young teenage lives would be lost on the A5 just outside Omagh. Today, again, I want to tender my deepest and heartfelt sympathy to the families of both victims and to their work colleagues and friends. Those two families have been left heartbroken. We can never comprehend the pain and sorrow of a broken-hearted mother, or a father's heart that has been torn apart by such a tragedy: an empty chair, a silent voice, a void in the home that no words can fill. We may never know the cause of that accident, but the one thing that we do know is that two more young lives have been lost and have been added to the list of fatalities on the A5 — a road that is no respecter of persons. The young have been cut off in their prime; the middle-aged have been torn away from their families; and the elderly have been taken. With the increased volume of traffic on the A5, from slow-moving vehicles to heavy articulated lorries and all the other smaller vehicles that use the road, I urge all road users to exercise extreme care and caution because of the dangers that can occur on it. Today, I urge the Infrastructure Minister, whom I know has a keen interest in taking forward the proposals for the A5, and the First Minister and deputy First Minister to seek to make improvements and safety on the A5 a priority, so that, together, we may see improvements for the good of all who use the road, and I urge them to seek to do all that they can to stop the carnage of lives lost on the A5.
356 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: 0.03 (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 (0.79).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.79 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-qualifying 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 | 0.74 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.21 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.04 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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