Member's statement: Innocent Victims
Member's statement by Mr Phillip Brett on .
- MLA
- Mr Phillip Brett
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 January 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Innocent Victims
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4763544
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The manner in which innocent victims across Northern Ireland continue to be treated is nothing short of an absolute disgrace. The perpetrators continue to try to justify their actions, while their supporters continue to attempt to rewrite the past. I am very proud that my party has always stood shoulder to shoulder with innocent victims, and it will continue to do so. For many years, my party, alongside campaigners, made it a top priority to secure a victims' pension scheme for the innocent victims of terrorism. I was absolutely delighted that, in 2019, as a result of the work of my party and campaigners, the innocent victims' disablement payment scheme was introduced. An attempt was made to block the scheme in the courts by the now so-called First Minister for all, because she did not like the fact that perpetrators of violence were excluded from applying to it. Despite those best attempts, I am absolutely delighted to say that, to date, 10,000 innocent victims the length and breadth of the Province have applied to the scheme. Over 1,000 applications have been approved, with over £76 million having been awarded to people. The awarding of those payments will never replace a missing family member at the table, and it will never take away the trauma that they suffered because of terrorism, but it rightly recognises the fact that this place will always respect innocent victims. Like the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland, my thoughts this week are with the Omagh bombing families. As the public inquiry, which was delayed for far too long, finally gets under way, the message from these Benches and from all right-thinking people in society is this: there was always an alternative to violence and an alternative to mayhem and murder. My party will never shy away from standing shoulder to shoulder with those people.
310 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: 0.31 (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 (0.63).
- Subject area: Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
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 | 0.24 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.08 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.18 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.19 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.29 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.31 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.63 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.31 |
| Adopts it | 0.06 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:52 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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