Debate contribution: Hate Crime: TEO Actions
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 1 July 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Hate Crime: TEO Actions
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5061727
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I am sad to hear that that is some people's experience. We met the racial equality group last week and had good engagement with it on what we have done and what we intend to do. We want to continue to work with it, particularly as we develop the race relations strategy post 2025. We will introduce racial equality legislation later in the year. We took a lot of the learning from what happened last summer and applied it to what happened recently. That was important. The additional funding is only one element. Quick condemnation of attacks when they occur is also important, as are the role of social media, a strong justice response and all of us standing firm against racism. When it comes to funding for groups, I have no truck with any group getting a penny of funding if it is involved in paramilitary activity. I will ensure that that is the case. We rely on groups making applications in good faith and officials assessing them accordingly. There is no evidence to suggest that we fund any groups that are involved in paramilitary activity. If there were, I would have something to say about that.
198 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: 0.08 (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 (0.85).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.90).
- Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
- 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 | 0.10 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.03 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.05 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.06 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.85 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.08 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.10 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.90 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.88 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.12 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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