Member's statement: Wallace High School: Schools' Cup 2025
Member's statement by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 18 March 2025
- Type
- Member's statement (made as a minister)
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Wallace High School: Schools' Cup 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4860246
Read the official Assembly record
Text
As Minister of Education, I say that sport is a huge part of what happens in our schools. Many competitions are run during the school year. For example, Kilkeel High School won the High School Cup treble in hockey — the first time that that has happened — with its girls' under-14, under-16 and under-18 teams each lifting the trophy: no pressure on the boys at the school. St Pat's Maghera has just been mentioned for winning its competition. I will speak about Lagan Valley, my constituency. The Ulster Schools' Cup is one of the oldest rugby competitions in the world, having been founded in 1876. The Wallace High School has competed in six finals, the first of which was in 1989, when the father of yesterday's triumphant captain, Jon Rodgers, captained the school's team. Yesterday, Jon was able to lead the team to victory. It was a historic occasion, being the first time that the school has won the trophy outright, because it was shared with the Royal School Armagh when the final was not played during COVID in 2020. The win for the school has filled Lisburn with great pride. Yesterday, people whom I met were speaking about the final before it had been played. There was a great sense of anticipation. In Lisburn, we are proud of Wallace High School. For the proud parents who lived every tackle made by their sons on the pitch, hoping that they would get up again, and who then saw Wallace lift the trophy, there was great relief but also great joy. The victory was many years in the making. I pay tribute to the entire team at Wallace High School, under the leadership of Derek Suffern. The chant "Derek Suffern's blue and white army" rang out, and people made their voices very loud at Ravenhill yesterday. It was a tremendous victory, and one achieved over a number of years. What a legacy it is for the principal, Deborah O'Hare, who retires this year, to leave the school with a victory under her leadership. I pay tribute not just to the school's sporting success but to its healthy mix of academic and sporting activity, which provides a balance for the young people there. I watched the game with Neal Lucas, the chairman of the board of governors — also my brother-in-law — and a former head boy of Wallace High School, and witnessed his pride in seeing the trophy lifted. I say a huge congratulations to everybody who was involved with Wallace High School's becoming the 2025 rugby champions.
428 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: 0.03 (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).
- Subject area: Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies.
- 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 | 0.04 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.04 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.03 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.85 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.09 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.04 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.02 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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