Member's statement: Irish Presidential Election
Member's statement by Mr Phillip Brett on .
- MLA
- Mr Phillip Brett
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 23 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Irish Presidential Election
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5129105
Read the official Assembly record
Text
On 24 October, the people of the Irish Republic will select their new president. That provides an opportunity for parties to set out their vision and seek the trust of the electorate. Where is Sinn Féin in that election? After months of speculation, of shadow-boxing and of telling the people of Ireland that its announcement would be a game changer, Sinn Féin has bottled it. Once again, Sinn Féin is on the run: no vision, no courage and no leadership. The same party endlessly talks about holding a referendum, first by 2016, then by 2030 and then within its members' lifetime, but, when it had the opportunity to stand for the highest office in the Irish Republic, it ran away. It vanished. It spent months complaining, saying that the people of Northern Ireland should be able to vote in that election and, indeed, wasted time in the Assembly calling for that, yet, when it had it had the opportunity to run a candidate in the election, it ran away. Instead of taking responsibility, Sinn Féin has a habit of demanding that others do its work. It insists that Dublin must produce a strategy to deliver Irish unity. It insist that civil servants must write the plan, and, when nothing happens, it blames everyone but itself. The decision not to run should come as no surprise. Despite claims from Sinn Féin that Mary Lou McDonald was the Taoiseach-in-waiting, the people of the Republic of Ireland sent the party a clear message. Now, instead of standing on its own two feet, it hides behind the independent candidate, Catherine Connolly, who has already managed to make a mockery of her campaign. We were told that she would be a champion for Irish unity, yet, when newspapers looked at her record on Irish unity, they found that she had not made one single comment on the issue in the past 25 years. However, her anti-Israel, anti-NATO, anti-American and pro-Hamas views might have more to do with the fact that Sinn Féin has run behind her. That pattern runs through Sinn Féin's politics. The party shouts the loudest, but, when asked to lead either in Dublin or here, it blames others for failure to deliver what it wants. I agree with the former Sinn Féin MP for Mid Ulster Francie Molloy, who broke Sinn Féin ranks to say that it should not have backed Catherine Connolly. The decision is a clear recognition that Sinn Féin is not fit to lead the Irish Republic. On that, Members on these Benches agree with Sinn Féin.
428 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: 0.46 (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 (0.65).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- 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 | 0.33 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.12 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.03 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.44 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.50 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.07 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.46 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.65 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.01 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.01 |
| Adopts it | 0.33 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.80 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.16 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.01 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.01 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:10 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.