Member's statement: Security Concerns
Member's statement by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 16 June 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Security Concerns
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5010107
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I wish to speak about a significant challenge to the safety of us all on this island, North and South. Many Members will be unaware of or know of but do not really care about the fact that the Republic of Ireland has only one offshore patrol vessel with no gun, and the Air Corps, whose main combat capability is a few turboprop training aircraft, cannot fly at weekends or in the evenings due to a shortage of air traffic controllers. Drug trafficking and people smuggling, which are on the rise, and the movement of illicit goods through the unmonitored and unprotected Irish Sea and Irish airspace are bad enough and are a direct threat to us here in the United Kingdom, but the failure of the Irish to defend their economic zone and airspace also undermines our physical security. On 6 June, President Higgins, at the unveiling of his portrait in Galway, took the opportunity to lambast our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, for spending an extra £1·5 billion on defence — a sentiment that has been echoed on the Floor of the Assembly in remarks from the SDLP, Sinn Féin Ministers and others.
That includes the rather bizarre defence of the so-called triple lock by them, which also gives Russia, China and, believe it or not, the United Kingdom the right to veto any deployment of Irish troops. That is also equally extraordinary.
Members cannot be unaware of the escalation of the many-years-long conflict between Iran and Israel. They will also know that, in July 2004, when Iran's use of Hamas and Hezbollah proxies was self-evident, President Higgins conveyed his best wishes to the new Iranian president and expressed condolences on the death of his predecessor. They may not be aware that Iran's leaders — those who are still alive and who have not run away to Dubai — threatened to attack with their ballistic missiles what they call "Big Satan's little friends in Europe". Those allies, according to all sorts of things, also include the Republic of Ireland and particularly the data centres and Shannon international airport. While we in the United Kingdom come under the protective umbrella of NATO, Ireland has decided to rely on the goodwill of the mullahs and appeasing Tehran with its opposition to everything Israeli, NATO, military or both. Iran also feels that it can threaten its only supporters in Europe with impunity. The back door is open not just to criminal gangs but to everyone who sees the Republic of Ireland as an open doormat. That should be a concern to us all.
431 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: 0.48 (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 (0.66).
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
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 | 0.22 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.30 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.53 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.31 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.50 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.48 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.66 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.33 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 0.63 |
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.24 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.05 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.03 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.03 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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