Debate contribution: Programme for Government: Public Consultation
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 9 September 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Ministerial Statement
- Heading
- Programme for Government: Public Consultation
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4511214
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I can guarantee that it is a priority. It is one of the nine priorities that we have identified. As you said, collectively, we all have constituents who are in dire straits waiting to get into the health service. They are being forced to beg, borrow and steal sometimes to get private healthcare, and that is not acceptable. We also know many constituents who, day and daily, cannot get access to their GP. That is not acceptable, and it is not good enough. We all need to focus on transformation and ask how we can support primary care and invest upfront in it, how we can bring care closer to families and how we can take the pressure from the acute end into that front-line investment. We need to see very concrete plans. We need to see something develop from the work that has been done to date. The Department of Health has published an elective care framework, and there have been some marginal improvements, albeit we are still in such a dire situation that it is hard to talk that up. In the aftermath of the Programme for Government being consulted on, we will see even more concrete plans coming forward from Health, and we will work with it on those. That is vital, because we need to get waiting lists down and we need to stop the wastage in our health service. We know that we have first-class health and social care workers working in our system day and night under huge pressure. We have invested in them through public-sector pay, which was one of the first things that the Executive were able to do. Outside of that, we need to see real systems change and complete restructuring of the health service so that we can start to tackle health inequalities.
A whole raft of things need to happen, including transformation, investment in the health service and programmes to bring down waiting times for people. Improving people's life and health outcomes is crucial, and I welcome the fact that the Health Minister has brought forward some initial plans on how he will develop more work on tackling health inequalities. There is a lot to do there, but it is a priority for us, and I assure you that, when we get to the end of the Programme for Government, we will need to look at what that looks like in waiting lists over year 1, year 2 and year 3.
412 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 (0.94).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | 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 | 0.97 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.01 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.