Member's statement: Community and Voluntary Search and Rescue Organisations
Member's statement by Mr Colm Gildernew on .
- MLA
- Mr Colm Gildernew
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 22 October 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Community and Voluntary Search and Rescue Organisations
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4607994
Read the official Assembly record
Text
This morning, I will draw attention to some of the fantastic community and voluntary search and rescue organisations that we have across the North. I think particularly of the K9 Search and Rescue service, which is based in County Down. In April, many of us met members of the service in the Long Gallery. In my constituency, we have Dungannon Sub Aqua Club, Tyrone Underwater Search and Recovery and Matthew’s search and rescue drone, which was set up after young Matthew McCallan lost contact with his friends on a night out and, tragically, lost his life at some time that night. His family have organised and fundraised to set up a service whereby a drone can provide assistance in search situations and pick up on body heat. The organisations all have a tremendous range of expertise and skills and commitment to what they do. It has come to my attention that, at times, some of the organisations struggle to be included in heartbreaking search situations because they are not part of a list maintained by the PSNI that is used to draw in services from groups. I fully recognise the need for the PSNI to be assured that anyone whom it works with has the required experience, qualifications, skills and equipment, and I believe that that applies to many of the groups. However, the groups say that it is difficult to find out how to get on the list, how to meet the requirements and what the criteria to might be. I will speak to the Justice Minister in due course to see whether we can provide further information to the groups. We all recognise that, if we were in that situation, we would want people with the required skills and equipment to assist in the search for our loved ones. I acknowledge the work and effort that go into those groups. They fundraise, train voluntarily and maintain very high standards of practice. I encourage the Department and the PSNI to see how they can work better with those groups to utilise their skills when they are needed.
348 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 (0.86).
- 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 | 0.86 | 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 | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:26 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.