Member's statement: Minister for Communities: Loyalist Communities Council
Member's statement by Mr Colm Gildernew on .
- MLA
- Mr Colm Gildernew
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 14 October 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Minister for Communities: Loyalist Communities Council
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4589504
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Last Tuesday, the Communities Minister, Gordon Lyons, held a meeting with the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) at its request. That was the second such meeting between the LCC and a DUP Minister in a matter of weeks. Those meetings have generated large media interest, and the public are, rightly, expressing concerns about the matter. Let us be clear about who the LCC are. The LCC is an umbrella group made up of members of the UVF, the UDA and the Red Hand Commando. Those loyalist paramilitaries regularly engage in criminal behaviour and terrorise their own communities through fear and coercive control. Those paramilitary gangs are involved in drug dealing, racketeering and sectarian acts of violence. They are also strongly suspected of orchestrating the racist attacks in Belfast during the summer. They have no place in our society, and they should have left the stage long ago. It is wholly inappropriate and unacceptable for any Minister to consult those groups on matters of public policy. In the wake of a meeting with Education Minister, Paul Givan, a couple of weeks ago, it was revealed that the LCC had lobbied the Minister to block the development of an Irish-medium school in east Belfast. One cannot help but wonder what, if any, similar demands were made of the Communities Minister and, crucially, what his response was. The public have a right to know what was discussed at last Tuesday's meeting with Gordon Lyons. In the interests of transparency and openness, he has a duty to provide that information. At last week's Communities Committee meeting, I called on the Minister to publish the minutes of the meeting with the LCC along with a list of attendees. I repeat that call today. In addition, I call on the Minister to come to the House as soon as possible to make a statement on the meeting and provide Members with an opportunity to ask questions.
319 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: 0.24 (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 (0.91).
- 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 | 0.19 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.22 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.08 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.23 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.12 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.54 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.24 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.04 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.91 |
| Adopts it | 0.05 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.53 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.47 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:13 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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