Member's statement: Castlederg: Business Boycott Sign
Member's statement by Mr Tom Buchanan on .
- MLA
- Mr Tom Buchanan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 25 November 2024
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Castlederg: Business Boycott Sign
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4674505
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I condemn those who, under cover of darkness on Thursday night past, erected a large sign on the wall of Priest's Lane car park calling for a total boycott of all shops and businesses in Castlederg, as they had taken umbrage at the flying of a Union flag in the area. It is nothing short of hate speech and an incitement to hatred that contributes to division and fear. It is a direct and deliberate attack on the minority Protestant/unionist community and all the business owners across the Castlederg area. Business owners are not responsible for what is placed on a lamp post in Castlederg. Therefore, to call for a boycott of businesses and state that there is no alternative to such action is but a continuation of the anti-Protestant/unionist campaign of hatred that caused devastation to many families in Castlederg over the thirty years of the IRA terrorist campaign.
We know that there has always been an alternative to the murder, the bloodshed, the bombings, the intimidation and the devastation caused by Republican-inspired sectarian bigotry and to the boycotts, both in the past and today. I call on those who erected the sign to remove it immediately. If it is not removed, the council must step up to the mark and have it removed. Business owners in Castlederg must be given full support, irrespective of the religious background they come from. Given the recent opening of the redeveloped Diamond area in Castlederg, the new play facilities at Castle Park and the COVID recovery paint scheme in the town, it is now time to get behind the businesses and the community and give them the support that they need, rather than taking such a divisive backward step. Allowing the sign to remain damages not only the community's values but the council's credibility. The council must therefore demonstrate leadership and accountability and take swift and decisive action to ensure that the sign is removed and implement measures to prevent such incidents happening in the future. We cannot have that type of thing happening in Castlederg or any other town across Northern Ireland. Those days are in the past. It is time for those living in the past to come into the real world and seek to work together with everyone to ensure that businesses across Northern Ireland thrive and get the support that they require.
394 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Not flagged on a second assessment, because Jev’s answers did not settle it. The reasons are given below.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.36 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- Criteria met: Identity framing (0.92); Cultural grievance politics (0.67).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.56).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- The answers did not meet either automatic 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.
Second assessment
Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works
- Verdict
- Not flagged
- Public interest or divisiveness
- Mixed
Against the published rubric
The statement condemns a specific act, a sign calling for "a total boycott of all shops and businesses" over a Union flag. It asks for a concrete remedy: that the sign be removed and that the council act if it is not. The rubric treats intimidation and sectarian material as genuine questions rather than symbolic ones, and the call for businesses to be supported "irrespective of the religious background they come from" is inclusive. The framing does go further, linking the sign to "the thirty years of the IRA terrorist campaign" and "Republican-inspired sectarian bigotry". But this is aimed at those responsible and at a political movement's record, not at Catholics or nationalists as a whole.
Public interest or divisiveness
The main thrust is opposing a boycott that would harm local traders and community relations, and pressing the council to act, which serves the public interest. The extended tie to past IRA violence and a decades-long "anti-Protestant/unionist campaign of hatred" adds communal grievance that goes beyond what is needed to deal with the sign. That gives the statement a substantial divisive element, although its practical purpose remains clear.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.92 | Yes |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.23 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.67 | Yes |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.42 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.26 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.32 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.36 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.56 |
| Adopts it | 0.44 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.99 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.01 |
| 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 11:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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