Debate contribution: Open Water Safety: Donegal Tragedy
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 12 May 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Matters of the Day
- Heading
- Open Water Safety: Donegal Tragedy
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4937314
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, I echo all the words of sympathy and support that have been offered in the Chamber, and I thank the Member for tabling this very important matter for discussion this morning. When we look at the faces of those two young boys, we cannot help but associate them with our own family members. If you are blessed enough to have a son or daughter of a similar age, as a parent, quite often, you transpose that tragedy or incident and ask, "How would I cope?". I do not know how I would cope. It is incredibly sad to see two young lives so needlessly lost in something that we, sadly, speak about far too often in this country.
What has perhaps been of some heart and hope to the families is the response on both sides of the border to the community in Buncrana. People have rallied around that community and shown all manner of unequivocal support, including through prayer and in person. They have rallied around the community to help in whatever way they can. Help has come from Ms Ferguson's constituency, including from the emergency services. As some Members may know, the ripple effect of the deaths will extend further than to the families who have been affected. Those who were at the beach or in its vicinity at the time will have seen things that they will never forget. The ripple effect will extend to those who responded in the hope of saving life, because, when people go out to respond, they hope to make an intervention. Unfortunately, the response sometimes becomes a recovery operation, and it is so tragic to see two young lives lost in such a way. As other Members have done, I issue a warning about our coastal waters and particularly our inland waters. We have lots of quarries, where, unfortunately, young people congregate and decide to go for a cold dip. Those waters are often much colder and pose more hidden dangers than even the sea does. We need to get to grips with the advice that we issue each year, especially when temperatures rise and the temptation for people is to get into the water. The water is indeed dangerous. I finish by offering my sincere thoughts and condolences to, and prayers on behalf of, the families of the two young boys who lost their life.
402 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).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.30 | 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 |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.58 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.19 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.13 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.07 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:22 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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