Debate contribution: Hate Crime Legislation in Northern Ireland
Debate contribution by Mr Doug Beattie MC on .
- MLA
- Mr Doug Beattie MC
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 4 June 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Opposition Business
- Heading
- Hate Crime Legislation in Northern Ireland
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4494000
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will be quite brief. It is a really good motion, but it is just so massive, in truth. It is certainly worthy of debate, because nobody should promote hate of any kind, regardless of whether that is due to religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race or age. Neither should hate be tolerated in isolating people because of the way they look, the way they speak or the place where they live. However, the reality is that eradicating some prejudices, unconscious bias or bias is incredibly difficult, no matter how you try. I think that there is even an anti-ginger bias group out there.
104 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: 0.08 (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).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.59).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- 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 | 0.10 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.05 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.04 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.12 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.09 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.23 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.08 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.41 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.59 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.91 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.04 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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