Debate contribution: The draft Period Products (the Executive Office Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024
Debate contribution by Ms Aisling Reilly on .
- MLA
- Ms Aisling Reilly
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 21 October 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The draft Period Products (the Executive Office Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4603615
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I beg to move
Today, we seek the Assembly's approval of the draft Period Products (the Executive Office Specified Public Service Bodies) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024. The introduction of the draft regulations is required under the Period Products (Free Provision) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which began as a private Member's Bill that was sponsored by former SDLP MLA Pat Catney. The draft regulations mark another important step in the journey to making universal access to period products a reality for all who need them. They will complement similar legislation from other Departments. That will mean that more arm's-length bodies will make free period products available to all staff and visitors who need to use them while on their premises. In due course, each body will carry out its own consultation exercise and publish statements on the arrangements that they will put in place. I thank those bodies for their cooperation to date. The draft regulations sit alongside the Executive Office's separate duty under the Act to make period products publicly available. Our officials have worked with Libraries NI to ensure that period products are freely available in all public libraries for anyone who needs them. Junior Minister Cameron and I were delighted to attend the launch of that scheme in May this year, and we understand that feedback on that has been positive. We thank the Executive Office Committee for its prompt scrutiny of the draft regulations.
237 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: 0.02 (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 (0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.60 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.73 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.26 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:25 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.