Debate contribution: Election of the President of Ireland: Voting Rights
Debate contribution by Mr David Brooks on .
- MLA
- Mr David Brooks
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 6 May 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Election of the President of Ireland: Voting Rights
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4929923
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Does the Member agree that, if we are going to respect all Irish citizens, those Irish citizens in Northern Ireland should not be treated any differently? They are not more Irish, for instance, than those Irish-born citizens in New York, Sydney or London. Northern Ireland should not be treated as a special case in that regard. If the franchise is to be extended to the Irish diaspora, it should be done internationally.
72 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: 0.26 (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 (0.76).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.97).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- 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 | 0.24 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.10 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.16 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.76 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.26 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.97 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.02 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.66 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.15 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.15 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.03 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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