Debate contribution: Access to Justice and Legal Services in Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Debate contribution by Miss Jemma Dolan on .
- MLA
- Miss Jemma Dolan
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 24 June 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Adjournment
- Heading
- Access to Justice and Legal Services in Fermanagh and South Tyrone
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5047859
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I also thank my constituency colleague Diana Armstrong for securing the Adjournment debate. Ensuring that our constituents have access to justice and legal services is vital and is an area in which numerous challenges have been encountered in recent years. The need for progress to be made on resolving those challenges has been highlighted in the fundamental review of criminal legal aid, in the holistic review of civil legal aid and in the steps being taken through the enabling access to justice reform programme. Every individual should have the ability to access justice, regardless of geography, circumstances or financial situation. It is the cornerstone of our justice system, which is why the concerns about the level of remuneration and delayed payments that the legal profession has raised need to be addressed. Many of us will have had numerous engagements with solicitors and barristers over recent years in which they have outlined the pressures that underfunding has placed on their profession, with firms struggling to recruit and retain staff. I have also spoken with constituents who have encountered long waiting times for processing their case, which is delaying their access to justice. The uplift that was recommended in the fundamental review of criminal legal aid is a step in the right direction towards improving remuneration levels. We also need to see adequate investment in the courts and tribunals estate to ensure that buildings are fit for purpose while also providing facilities that limit travelling distance for our people. As a representative of a largely rural area, I am particularly conscious of the service that solicitors provide. It requires broad knowledge and expertise, including of conveyancing, family law, criminal legal aid and personal injury. I therefore ask the Minister and her Department to do all that they can to protect legal services and ensure that the profession is supported and its concerns resolved.
311 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: 0.02 (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 (0.95).
- 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 | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.95 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | 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 | 0.99 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:56 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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