Debate contribution: Northern Ireland Climate Commissioner Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 April 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Northern Ireland Climate Commissioner Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4919465
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The Member has put his point on the record. Equally, I have set out why it would be penny wise and pound foolish to suggest such a thing. The Member will understand that that £1 million is set aside for this purpose. It is not something that a Minister can bid for and then allow to be traded off. Wildfires are avoidable. They may be, and predominantly are, set deliberately. However, the reality is that because of climate change, the fire loading in those mountains and grassland areas is significantly worse than it was 20, 25 or 30 years ago. I am glad that the Member has put on the record that this is not about climate denial. I hope that other Members will speak to that.
At this point, to be fair, it is right to be fiscally appropriate and the DUP has centred on the figure of £1 million. I think that Mr Carroll had asked for an intervention first.
I thank the Member for raising that. One of the things that I am frustrated about at the moment is that while, to his credit, in 2021 the then Minister, Mr Poots, embarked on a strategy for tackling those types of incidents, that piece of work, unfortunately, has still not seen the light of day. I do not know whether that is down to political failure. We need to get to the bottom of that to find out why we have not —. I will give way.
I thank the Member; she has put her points on the record. I agree with the first part of what she said. There are legitimate reasons why people should question when we spend £1 million on setting up an agency. We do not want a body, whether it is arm's-length or totally independent, to be without function or purpose and not have deliverables. The outcomes will be really important, but the impacts are on our communities. In the Mournes, for example, cover is provided by retained firefighters. There are no full-time fire stations there. Those firefighters are men and women who are pulled out of their everyday jobs to spend 16 or 18 hours up a mountain. That has impacts on their families and the businesses in the area. Those impacts are probably not even captured. I am going to let Mr Blair in.
398 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: 0.04 (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 (0.90).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.03 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.04 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.90 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.99 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.93 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.04 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:21 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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