Member's statement: Tollymore National Outdoor Centre: Closure
Member's statement by Mr Andrew McMurray on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew McMurray
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 9 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Tollymore National Outdoor Centre: Closure
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5085698
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to speak about the prolonged closure of Tollymore National Outdoor Centre in Bryansford, just outside Newcastle. I have a personal connection in that I attended courses at the centre as a teenager and gained a number of qualifications there after university. I went on to pursue a career in the outdoors. I met my wife at the centre, so I have lots of good memories of the place. I went on to introduce my children to outdoor activities through the centre, but I cannot do that at the minute because it is closed. My thoughts are very much with the staff who are no longer employed at the centre as a result of the closure and with all the staff who have been associated with the centre over the years. The centre was established after an atrocity in the Cairngorms, and it provided training in outdoor pursuits after other incidents, such as the Lyme Bay tragedy. It is important to highlight the connection between the outdoors, positive mental health and physical well-being. Those connections have been well proven, and more should be done to encourage young people and adults to get outside. Not all sport is played on grass pitches that are marked out with whitewashed lines. It is important to state that. Tollymore National Outdoor Centre was an integral part of the outdoor pursuits landscape in south Down, and, unfortunately, the number of centres in south Down has reduced substantially over the past number of years. It is imperative that Sport NI and the Department for Communities look at ways in which a model can be operated to reopen the centre as soon as possible. The centre regularly hosted community groups, local schools and schools from across Northern Ireland, and provided training courses for instructors. Its closure has a knock-on effect on the ability to take people outside safely. As we have all seen, there has been a growth in interest in outdoor pursuits and activities and the role that they can play, not least since the COVID pandemic.
342 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 (0.89).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.89 | 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 | 0.48 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.41 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.04 |
| Disability (including neurodivergence and mental health), disabled people and disability or sickness benefits | 0.04 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 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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