Debate contribution: Legacy: Holding the Irish Government to Account
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Frew
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 23 September 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Private Members' Business
- Heading
- Legacy: Holding the Irish Government to Account
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5129326
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will point everyone again to the motion, which refers to:
"the abject failure of the Irish Government to provide answers for those families who suspect Irish state involvement in the murder of their loved ones, or who believe that their deaths could have been prevented; highlights, furthermore, the absurdity of this approach when the Irish Government maintain their inter-state case against the UK Government; notes with concern the memorandum of understanding between the Irish Government and the Omagh bombing inquiry, which masquerades as cooperation but includes no statutory powers, no ability to compel witnesses and no guarantee of full disclosure; opposes any role for the Irish Government in overseeing the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery without first establishing parallel investigative processes in their jurisdiction; and calls on the UK Government to urgently provide assurances that any agreement reached in principle with the Irish Government on legacy commands the broad support of victims and survivors."
Why can the House not support that wording, in a motion that seeks truth and justice for victims and survivors? Why can it not? Why will the House divide, when the victims and survivors need truth and justice and need the House to fight for them? They have waited long enough. They have waited for decades and generations. People have died not knowing the truth and not seeing justice applied to the perpetrators and the people who killed and savagely murdered their loved ones, yet some Members here think that the motion is unhelpful and want to move on. They want to forget. The SDLP Member talked about the failure of moving on from the "poison" of the past. Well, I can tell you now that the innocent victims who died at the hand of terrorism did not spread any poison.
They did not spread any poison.
I will give way.
I thank the Member for his clarification. Then we have Sinn Féin Members, who want to amend the motion to take out the word "innocent". Does removing that word from the victims not resonate and perpetuate the guilt? That is shabby. It is really, really bad. Sinn Féin has campaigned vigorously for amnesty, which is the opposite of justice. How can it say out of one side of its mouth that it seeks justice and truth while lobbying from the other for amnesty for IRA terrorists who perpetrated murder and killed people at the border in Northern Ireland, including Protestants at that border and Catholics who they suspected of informing? Without any trial or a justice process, those people were summarily executed at the side of the road. That is what the IRA did to the people of Northern Ireland from all religions, including Protestant and Catholic. So many people cannot move on because they have not seen truth and justice. That is what they want. We talk about transparency from the British and Irish Governments, but where is the disclosure from the IRA and loyalist terrorists? Where is the disclosure from Sinn Féin members who were in the IRA? They are bound by some code. That is some code indeed for the victims of terrorism when they cannot get the truth from politicians in this country who had a history in the IRA but will not speak up and deliver that truth for those people when it would be so easy for them to do so. Search your conscience. People out there have been living in hell because they cannot get the truth. Some people know the truth, but people cannot get justice because of the on-the-run letters and the fact that the Irish Government will not investigate their part in the terrorist campaign. That is truly awful. My party will always defend every innocent victim, no matter where they come from, what their religion, where they went to school or where they serve their God. We will support them all. I wish that every other party in this place could say the same. I turn to the Alliance Party, which is going to support Sinn Féin's amendment. That is diabolical. I ask it to search its conscience and read the text of the DUP motion. I pray that it sees the light when it comes to our wording, comes back and runs round to support us in our endeavour, because we have the victims at the heart of the process.
730 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism
Jev’s structured answers met every documented threshold for a qualifying culture-war activity.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.70 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
- Criteria met: Identity framing (0.61); Dog-whistle messaging (0.67).
- The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.64).
- Subject area: Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism.
- All qualifying thresholds were met.
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 | 0.61 | Yes |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.46 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.67 | Yes |
| Controversy escalation | 0.42 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.37 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.70 | Above qualifying threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.16 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.20 |
| Adopts it (chosen) | 0.64 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.68 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.17 |
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.14 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
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.
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