Member's statement: Bowel Cancer
Member's statement by Mrs Ciara Ferguson on .
- MLA
- Mrs Ciara Ferguson
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 30 September 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Bowel Cancer
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5142817
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I rise to speak on bowel cancer, something that is quite personal to me, as I lost my father in 2002 to bowel cancer two weeks after his diagnosis. Bowel cancer is treatable and curable, especially if diagnosed early. Nearly everyone survives bowel cancer if it is diagnosed at the earliest stage.
Survival rates drop significantly as the disease develops, however. Early diagnosis saves lives. While bowel cancer is most common in people over the age of 50, it is important to emphasise that it can affect anyone, whatever their age, gender or ethnicity or wherever they live.
In Ireland, around 2,500 people develop bowel cancer, also known as "colorectal cancer", each year. The Public Health Agency (PHA) in the North has indicated that one in 20 people here will develop bowel cancer. While bowel cancer is the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer here, it is the second-biggest cause of cancer-related deaths. Symptoms of bowel cancer include blood in the faeces; rectal bleeding; changes in pooing habits; loss of weight for no obvious reason; feeling more tired than usual for some time; pain in the stomach or bottom; and a feeling of not having emptied the bowels after going to the toilet. If people have even one of those symptoms or are worried about any changes that they have noticed, they should ask their GP about accessing an at-home test kit, which is something that I received recently. Our cancer strategy 2022-2032 has committed to reducing the sensitivity levels of faecal immunochemical tests (FITs), which check for hidden blood in stool samples. The strategy has also committed to lowering the age eligibility for our bowel cancer screening programme to 50. Screening is currently offered to those aged 60 to 74. I recently asked the Minister of Health about those commitments. He said that work is ongoing and will be reviewed in the context of financial and capacity challenges in supporting services. I remind the Minister that the fact that the fourth most common cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer here is evidence enough of the need to expand urgently what is a life-saving screening programme.
355 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: 0.02 (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 (0.94).
- 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 | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | 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 | 0.50 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.44 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.02 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.02 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:16 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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