Member's statement: Storm Éowyn: NIE Critical Care List
Member's statement by Mr Timothy Gaston on .
- MLA
- Mr Timothy Gaston
- Party at the time
- Traditional Unionist Voice
- Date
- 27 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Storm Éowyn: NIE Critical Care List
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4758664
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I preface my comments by paying tribute to the thousands of front-line workers, who did not have a choice when it came to the lockdown warning for Friday morning, including the home helps, who put the needs of others above their own; the police officers; the hospital staff; and, once again, the farmers, whose assistance was invaluable to reopening many of our roads. I thank all the churches and the Orange and community halls that opened their doors so that people would have access to heat and electricity, and, of course, I thank those who were working round the clock to maintain the electricity and water supply during the storm and who have been working since to repair the vast swathes of damage caused to the network since Friday morning. I do not want my next comments to take away from the sterling job that those workers have been doing, and will, no doubt, continue to do until every home has its power restored, every road has been cleared and every house has running water again.
However, I will give some feedback to NIE to highlight the lack of proactive information that flowed to those on the critical care list. A number of my vulnerable constituents reached out to NIE over the weekend about serious medical issues, but no callback ever came. On Saturday, I heard from a 93-year-old lady who relies on her medical chair and bed to enable her carers and family to look after her. Once the batteries ran out, her medical chair would not function, and the bed deflated. My first call about that issue on Saturday resulted in a wait of over an hour on the elected representative line to NIE. It took four further calls before NIE agreed to provide generators to a number of my constituents in similar situations, and those were delivered only after midnight. I could recite multiple stories about constituents from yesterday. In one case, the battery ran out in a stair lift, meaning that my constituent could not get upstairs to use the toilet or get to his bed. I also think of the lady in a wheelchair who did not have power in the house for her family to operate her hoist or any of her medical equipment. Those are just some of the many stories of people on the critical care list who were just left until I contacted NIE. The call centre staff were helpful, but the problem was that there simply were not enough staff or generators to meet the needs of those in vulnerable situations. Members, if any lesson is taken from the response to the storm, it must be that we were not well enough prepared for the vulnerable people on the NIE critical care list. I have heard tell of generators coming in from England and Scotland today, which is welcome, but we need to be better prepared and have those generators ready to go, so that, when the next storm comes, we can meet the needs of those on the critical care list.
512 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 (0.92).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits.
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.91 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.05 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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