Debate contribution: Defective Premises Bill: Accelerated Passage
Debate contribution by Mr Daniel McCrossan on .
- MLA
- Mr Daniel McCrossan
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 3 June 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Defective Premises Bill: Accelerated Passage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4493561
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The Minister has announced that the Defective Premises Bill is designed to introduce new provisions into the Limitation (NI) Order 1989, fixing a retrospective period of up to 30 years and a prospective period of up to 15 years in which a party can take action for defective premises. It also introduces new provisions into the Defective Premises Order to allow a building that contains two or more dwellings to be treated as a single dwelling for the purposes of the order. The changes are based on the provisions introduced in England and Wales by sections 134 and 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022. The SDLP acknowledges that existing legislation dating back to 1975 can no longer provide citizens here with the protections that they need and deserve. Therefore, we are sympathetic to amending the law to afford greater safeguards and doing it as expediently as possible. Acknowledging our difficult situation, the Minister seeks accelerated passage of the Bill. Of course, such action should not be done as normal business in the House. It deprives the Committee for Communities of its capacity for proper scrutiny and shortens the Assembly's ability to inspect and amend, should any amendment be necessary. Members will consider those issues as the Bill goes through its stages. As a party, the SDLP has thought long and hard about the notion of accelerated passage. It must never be a natural first option. Indeed, citizens are entitled to know that MLAs have taken any draft legislation that is set before the House seriously and that the highest standards of scrutiny have been applied. Accelerated passage must, therefore, never be taken for granted. Every instance must be judged on a case-by-case basis. That said, in this instance, we are faced with a unique situation, and the dangers of prolonging the passage of the Bill are real. Moreover, our citizens are entitled to equality with those in other jurisdictions. Bearing those things in mind, whilst the SDLP is unhappy with accelerated passage, we recognise the reasons why that is the route of action by the Minister. We have also said at the Committee on countless occasions that further scrutiny would add only a short period of 30 days to the process, which would enable proper and full scrutiny, allow us to put key questions to the Minister and others to ensure robust scrutiny of the process and enable us to answer any concerns that we have about the Bill. The Bill has been introduced by the Minister in good faith and, we expect, with the legal resources and expertise of the Department to help to craft and present it in a way that is competent. Furthermore, it is an Executive Bill, and it has, from my understanding, the support of Executive colleagues. The Bill contains only four substantive clauses and is based on parity with existing law in England and Wales. The Assembly can engage in robust debate and scrutiny during the Bill's passage. Finally, there is a compelling need to provide equality of protection under the law to residents in this jurisdiction, which has been prevented for one reason or another and absolutely as a result of the absence of these institutions functioning as they should. Consequently, the SDLP will, on this occasion, agree, with caution, to accelerated passage in the knowledge that the House will carefully scrutinise the Bill as it passes through the legislative stages that are required by the House.
575 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: 0.03 (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 (0.82).
- 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 | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.82 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | 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 | 0.93 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.05 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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