Debate contribution: Historical Clerical Child Abuse
Debate contribution by Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly on .
- MLA
- Mrs Emma Little-Pengelly
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 11 November 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Historical Clerical Child Abuse
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4667413
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her question. That is an important aspect, because the approach to doing the research first was very much based on the reality that, although some anecdotal and other evidence has come forward on what has happened, there is little insight into the scale or depth of the problem. The research is designed to flag up relevant issues to be considered. I suspect that that issue will be looked at. One important element of that is the call for victims and survivors to come forward. We are likely to go public with that call at the end of November. It is incredibly important that we hear from those victims and survivors because — for the very reasons that the Member mentioned — they will raise things that we are not aware of or, perhaps, that the layout of it does not take into account this time, but that will need to be taken into account as we move forward with additional support and help.
That is a really important aspect that MLAs across the House can get involved in helping to publicise. It will be about research, looking at the evidence, identifying what more work needs to be done and, importantly, listening to the voices of victims and survivors.
213 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: 0.04 (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 (0.74).
- 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 | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.74 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | 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 | 0.35 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.26 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.12 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.10 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.09 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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