Member's statement: Early Years Sector

Member's statement by Mr Colm Gildernew on 21 May 2024.

MLA: Mr Colm Gildernew
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 21 May 2024
Type: Member's statement
Business: Members' Statements
Heading: Early Years Sector
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4491367

Text

My statement is on a meeting that I attended, as did Deborah Erskine, after leaving here yesterday. The meeting was with a group of early years providers from Armagh and Dungannon, just outside the Moy. These groups provide early years education at preschool level and inject huge value into our communities. Groups such as Panda Cross Community Playgroup in Cabragh, Killeeshil, and Rainbow Playgroup in Eglish, which my children had the privilege and benefit of attending, have, over many years, provided that additional start for many young children. These groups are largely community based and voluntarily run and have to do additional fundraising. Last night's meeting was a positive and, indeed, inspiring experience, because of the staff's passion for what they do. However, they flagged up difficulties and challenges that they are facing at present, including cost-of-living pressures. In common with many other providers, they are struggling with the basics, such as the cost of heating and lighting. They are also struggling to deal with the huge numbers of children with additional needs who are coming through the system and the fact that there are very few pathways for them to refer those children on to services for their health needs. They are dealing with children in our part of the constituency who have additional language needs too. Those are all challenges. The early years sector is regulated by Health and Education, but it does not receive the same support that is given to some other settings in those areas. That is something that we need to look at very carefully. The sector also struggles with recruitment and retention. New staff who are trained up to a very high and skilled level can potentially move on to other jobs because of burnout or to other statutory sectors where the terms and conditions may be better. This morning, I ask Members to think about the value that those groups bring to our communities. They are asking that their sector is stabilised, sustained and secured. I want to add my voice and say that there is huge merit in us doing that.

350 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

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 (0.88).
No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
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

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.03	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.01	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.02	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.02	No
Controversy escalation	0.02	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.88	Yes
Overall judgement	0.03	At or below not-qualifying threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
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 area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits	0.63
No identity-related subject	0.27
Education structures, integration and community division	0.06
Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy	0.04
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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