Debate contribution: Programme for Government
Debate contribution by Ms Paula Bradshaw on .
- MLA
- Ms Paula Bradshaw
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 13 May 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Programme for Government
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4488635
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for his intervention. We await confirmation of when the First Minister and deputy First Minister will return to the Committee and of when the junior Ministers will appear. At that stage, we will home in on the issue of a lack of a Programme for Government. That counts for little, however, until it is actually published as the focus for policy and legislation for us as a Committee to scrutinise. I will now make a few remarks as an Alliance MLA. The specific call on the First Minister and deputy First Minister is fairly framed, and we support it without reservation. The amendment is not entirely without merit, but it removes the specific call for the Programme for Government to be published. We want to see it published urgently.
Go ahead.
I will reflect on that again. I did not think that that was the way that the amendment read. It picks out specific issues, and we know that the Executive have looked at others that have not been included. The point is that we would like to see the Programme for Government in its entirety, published even in draft form, so that we can look at everything that the Executive are laying out. We have rehearsed the challenging fiscal situation to which the motion refers several times in the Chamber, but we need to be clear about two things. First, if anything, such a situation makes a Programme for Government only more urgent, as we need to be clear about what our priorities are. Secondly, if we want to make the case for more money for services, we need to be clear about what we will do with it. Let me expand on the latter point. We hear from the COVID-19 inquiry that our system of government has learned nothing from the renewable heat incentive (RHI). We hear from countless inquiries into and reviews of our health and social care system that we are learning nothing from major patient safety failings. The parties that provide the relevant Ministers are the same parties that opted to crash the Executive in 2017 and kept it crashed for most of the time since. They are responsible and accountable for the consequences of that too. The people of Northern Ireland are no longer prepared to be thankful to Ministers merely for providing an Administration; they want, need and demand good government. There is a lot of work to catch up on and decisions to make, and that requires clear prioritisation, which is best delivered by a Programme for Government.
430 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: 0.06 (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 (0.85).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.85 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | 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 | 0.92 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.02 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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