Debate contribution: D-Day Events: Non-attendance of the First Minister
Debate contribution by Mr Matthew O'Toole on .
- MLA
- Mr Matthew O'Toole
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 10 June 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Question for Urgent Oral Answer
- Heading
- D-Day Events: Non-attendance of the First Minister
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4495378
Read the official Assembly record
Text
First Minister, one of the outcomes at the end of the Second World War was the creation of the EU, ultimately, and its single market. I was shocked last week to hear your party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, say on the Claire Byrne programme on RTÉ that she was not uncomfortable with an increase in checks on people moving across the border in Ireland. She also said that the main issue that Sinn Féin had with the border was around remilitarisation. That will come as a shock to those of us who have worked hard over the past number of years to prevent a hardening of the border in relation to goods and people. I was also shocked to read a Sinn Féin election leaflet delivered in County Louth, of all places, First Minister —
— that said that Sinn Féin is opposed to open borders and that Ireland must have control over its borders. That was delivered in County Louth, First Minister.
Do you regret that your party, in its failed election campaign, attempted to weaponise the open border on this island? Do you regret that, and will you ensure that it never happens again?
There was one last week.
201 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: 0.55 (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).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.68).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- The overall probability was moderate at most and none of the culture-war criteria was close to being met.
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 | 0.33 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.06 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.04 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.21 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.42 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.33 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.55 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.68 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.05 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.10 |
| Adopts it | 0.17 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.75 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.18 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.06 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:38 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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