Member's statement: Rathcoole: Housing
Member's statement by Mr Phillip Brett on .
- MLA
- Mr Phillip Brett
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Rathcoole: Housing
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4736151
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The Rathcoole multistorey flats have not just been a dominant feature of our local landscape for generations but have been home to generations of families who proudly call Rathcoole their home. For many years, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive has been on a crusade to demolish those homes and make the residents of Abbotscoole House homeless. Just last week, despite two residents' surveys being carried out by that body, with over 80% of residents rejecting the Housing Executive's proposals to demolish their homes, it submitted a business case to the Department for Communities seeking approval to demolish those vital local homes. While the Housing Executive invests in tower blocks in other parts of North Belfast, it expects the community that I represent to accept second best. While local families are in housing crisis, the Housing Executive expects us to accept dereliction in Rathcoole.
Whilst it attempts to make an 87-year-old grandmother homeless in Rathcoole, it expects us to remain silent. The Housing Executive will underestimate the community of Rathcoole at its peril. It is known for its community campaigning and for sticking together in the most difficult of times. Last week, when the Housing Executive informed us of its decision, we launched a community petition campaign to show the clear opposition to the proposals. In just five days, hundreds and hundreds of residents from across Rathcoole and North Belfast signed up to our campaign because they will no longer accept North Belfast's being seen as a place of dereliction. They will no longer accept local homes being demolished, and they will not accept proposals from the Housing Executive to replace family homes with dereliction and grass seeds. My message to the Department for Communities is clear: there is a housing crisis not just in Rathcoole but across North Belfast, and any attempt to remove those vital family homes will be strongly resisted.
312 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: 0.09 (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 (0.82).
- 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 | 0.14 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.07 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.82 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.09 | 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 | 0.77 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.18 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.02 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
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.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.