Debate contribution: Opposition to Racism
Debate contribution by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 August 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Opposition to Racism
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4500372
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to add my party's support to the motion and the amendment. Yesterday, I saw two very clear examples of the challenges that our society faces and of how our very valued migrants are involved. I spent several hours yesterday in Antrim Area Hospital's A&E with one of my children. Throughout the hospital, healthcare professionals of many races, religions and nationalities worked assiduously to help our constituents, including my daughter, through their health challenges. The people I saw and talked to from south Antrim in A&E and across the hospital were grateful for the professional medical care that they were receiving.
I did not hear one complaint about receiving help, from whatever source it came.
I then heard of an attack on the home and car of a healthcare worker in Ballyclare. That attack on someone who is in Northern Ireland specifically to help our people is despicable and utterly abhorrent. The fact that that person came from a Filipino background is absolutely irrelevant. The fact is that this is a migrant worker who came to Northern Ireland to help. This very day, in my office in Ballyclare, people will be complaining about healthcare services, social services and all the rest. We have people in our community who have come here to help, yet some very misguided people think, in some way, that it is appropriate to attack them. It is not. It has to stop, and it has to stop now. The fact that, across all of Northern Ireland, we increasingly rely on our friends from overseas who come to Northern Ireland to help us make it a much better place is something that all of us as politicians should be welcoming. We need to explain to those who do not understand that it is a net benefit to all of us, and we must make that so. Finally, an additional issue that I would like to raise is that of anti-Semitism. In many ways, anti-Semitism is the canary in the coal mine for many of the issues that we have had. A year and a half ago, I spoke in the synagogue about concerns of anti-Semitism rising across Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland and about the impact that that was likely to have. There is no space in Northern Ireland for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia or anything else. As politicians, we all must call people out for them. I would like to see an emphasis on anti-Semitism put alongside the other forms of horrific racism.
420 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).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.98).
- Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
- 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 | 0.39 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.07 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.10 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.45 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.02 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.98 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.97 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.02 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:57 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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