Member's statement: Burns Night
Member's statement by Ms Diane Forsythe on .
- MLA
- Ms Diane Forsythe
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 21 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Burns Night
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4749483
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Get your haggis, bagpipes and tartan ready: it is time to celebrate Burns Night. For more than 200 years, Burns Night has been celebrated every year on 25 January in honour of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, who is known all over the world. The story of Robert Burns and Ulster is one of an auld acquaintance that should never be forgotten. It is just one of our many historical connections with Scotland and expresses our shared heritage of the Scots language and literature. The Ayrshire poet and lyricist died in 1796, but he is still regarded as the most prominent poet to have written in the Scots dialect. His best-known poems include 'To a Mouse', 'Address to a Haggis', 'Tam o'Shanter', 'A Red, Red Rose', and 'The Selkirk Grace'. Burns Night, sometimes called "Burns Supper", is traditionally celebrated with a dinner consisting of haggis, neeps and tatties — more commonly known as turnips and potatoes — along with food, poetry, music and dance. This weekend, we will see people gathering to celebrate Burns Night all over the world. It is fantastic to see the best of our Scots and Ulster-Scots history and culture being celebrated across the globe. With the new American vice president, JD Vance, having strong Ulster-Scots links, we look forward to sharing our culture with the White House in the future. In my constituency of South Down, Burns Night will be well celebrated, with really big events in Kilkeel, involving the Schomberg Society, and Lisnamulligan and with many other events where people will join each other to celebrate. Mr Speaker, thank you for hosting a celebration of Robert Burns and Ulster Scots in the Great Hall today. It is most welcome, and I will be there, proudly donning my Hanna family tartan, which was beautifully crafted by the Harris Kilt Company in your constituency of South Belfast. I will share a wee extract from a favourite Robert Burns poem of mine, 'The Rights of Woman':
"While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things, The fate of Empires and the fall of Kings; While quacks of State must each produce his plan, And even children lisp the Rights of Man; Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention, The Rights of Woman merit some attention."
I encourage you all to learn a bit more about Robert Burns and enjoy his poetry, and I wish everyone a happy and enjoyable Burns Night, wherever they are celebrating.
408 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: 0.08 (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).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.97).
- Subject area: Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy.
- 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 | 0.14 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.04 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.05 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.03 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.08 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.97 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.03 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.96 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.01 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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