Debate contribution: Waiting Times: PFG Commitment
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 20 January 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Waiting Times: PFG Commitment
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4744505
Read the official Assembly record
Text
One of our key priorities as an Executive is the health and well-being of our people. We are committed to working together to deliver the transformation needed to deal with the pressures facing the health and social care system. Following a recent meeting of the Executive, we issued a statement on winter pressures. We acknowledged that this has been a particularly difficult winter across the health and social care system, with high rates of hospital admissions and flu. We also thanked Health and Social Care (HSC) staff, carers and the community and voluntary sector for their tireless work over this difficult winter. As an Executive, we fully understand the impact of long waiting times on patients and their families. We encourage people to take any steps that they can to stay safe and well this winter. If you are eligible, please take up the flu vaccine, which has now been extended to everyone over the age of 50. We continue to work together on the reform and transformation of the health and social care sector, including the urgent need to reduce waiting times. As with all commitments in the draft Programme for Government, it is one of our shared ambitions, and its importance has been discussed frequently by the Executive.
210 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: 0.02 (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 (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 | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.39 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | 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 | 0.62 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.36 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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