Debate contribution: Off-road Motorcycles
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 2 June 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Off-road Motorcycles
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4981181
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I am aware of ongoing issues with the illegal use of off-road motorcycles. Such issues, as with any community safety issue, require collective partnership working across local and central government to identify the causes and put in place joined-up, long-term solutions to prevent incidents arising and tackle the cumulative impact that they have on individuals and communities. My Department has spent considerable resource on awareness-raising and supporting a bespoke motorcycle awareness programme that my Department part-funded with the Department for Communities from 2018 to 2023.
Due to the constrained financial position that was imposed on my Department, it was not possible to continue that funding, although the PSNI and councils were encouraged to continue the programme with further projects that were organised by the PSNI, which had secured funding from other sources.
Some of the initiatives that tackle the issue include education and awareness raising by police and community safety partnerships (PCSPs), which are jointly funded by my Department and the Northern Ireland Policing Board. Those initiatives include engagement by community safety wardens who actively work with the PSNI local neighbourhood teams in some areas to tackle the issue. To address the spontaneous and mobile nature of street scrambling, the PSNI has advised that local response officers work closely with the air support unit to help tackle the issue. The matter also engages the interests of the Department of Infrastructure, as it is responsible for road safety, and the Department for Communities, which leads on sport.
246 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).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.75).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.75 | Yes |
| 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 | 0.93 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.06 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:45 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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