Debate contribution: Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021: Section 26
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 24 February 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021: Section 26
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4813812
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The harm that domestic and sexual abuse causes to the lives of children and young people is significant. There were strong calls for the domestic and sexual abuse strategy to include a fifth pillar in addition to partnership, prevention, support and provision and justice that specifically focused on meeting the needs of children and young people. We want to do more to prevent young people from becoming victims of domestic violence and abuse or from witnessing it in the home. The important part of that is the digitisation project that I mentioned that is being brought forward by the EA and the PSNI. By streamlining the communications between those organisations, we will be able to expedite contact with young people who may have been subjected to a domestic incident in the hours before they arrive at school. That incident may have required them to leave their home to find a place of safety. It may have meant that they did not get any sleep that night or that they have come to school without doing their homework or without their uniform. The school needs to be sensitive in handling those situations rather than escalating them to being a disciplinary issue that makes the young person dread going to school, so that the young person sees school as a place where they can get some respite from what is happening at home.
231 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not qualifying”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.93).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-qualifying 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 | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | At or below not-qualifying 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.50 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.49 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:00 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
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