Member's statement: Minister of Justice: Comments on Bullying
Member's statement by Mr Paul Frew on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Frew
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 9 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Minister of Justice: Comments on Bullying
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5085691
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I have been contacted today by a number of teachers who are absolutely appalled by the stance of some of the teachers' unions and by the commentary and wording of the Justice Minister, Naomi Long.
She said there will potentially be:
"open season on bullying of young people, not just by other peers in their class and other members of the same age, but actually by people within their classrooms — teachers and others — who may actually now be in a situation where they feel enabled to take their own ideological position and work that through the classroom".
I am appalled by that language and commentary from the Justice Minister, Naomi Long, and so are the teachers who have contacted me this morning. They are appalled and angered that the Justice Minister would say such a thing. I call on the Justice Minister to apologise for that slight on our teachers, who have spent many long nights and days agonising over how to support vulnerable children in their classrooms and schools. They grapple with how to support children who, because of their young years, are confused. Teachers help and support those young people, yet our Justice Minister thinks that they are bullies. Enough of that nonsense; enough of that language. I call on the Justice Minister to apologise to teachers for that slight. We want our children to be safe in school; so do teachers. We want them to be engaged in school; so do teachers. We want them to thrive in school; so do teachers. We want parents to have the confidence that all three of those aims will be met. What do parents think when they hear the commentary of Naomi Long, the Alliance Party leader, this morning? What should they think? It is not about anyone's ideological position, whether it be Naomi Long or Eóin Tennyson; it is about the law. It is about the law that has been defined and clarified by the Supreme Court — the highest court in this country. We have a Justice Minister who baulks at that and turns her face away from it, and who slights and insults our teachers, who have done commendable work with vulnerable people over the years. I call on her again to apologise for that slight on our teachers.
384 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: 0.43 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- Criteria met: Controversy escalation (0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.66).
- Subject area: Education structures, integration and community division.
- 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 | 0.31 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.07 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.06 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.16 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.60 | Yes |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.21 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.43 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.66 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.25 |
| Adopts it | 0.08 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.53 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.21 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.18 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.04 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
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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