Debate contribution: Legislation Programme 2025-26
Debate contribution by Miss Áine Murphy on .
- MLA
- Miss Áine Murphy
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 13 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Legislation Programme 2025-26
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5176085
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I welcome the motion on the Executive legislation programme, which sets out an ambitious and wide-ranging future legislative agenda. I will take a moment to highlight some of the priorities that are coming forward. As a member of the AERA Committee, I welcome the inclusion of the fisheries and water environment Bill. It is an important and timely step in modernising how we manage and protect our aquatic environments. As we take it forward, it is essential that DAERA's approach be balanced and proportionate. Protecting our environment must go hand in hand with supporting our rural communities, which already play a central role in maintaining and improving environmental standards. As a member of the Committee for the Executive Office, I welcome the inclusion of the race equality Bill. That long-awaited legislation carries huge importance for communities across the North. The disgraceful riots that we witnessed in the summer show just how necessary such protections are. With families having been intimidated from their homes in parts of Belfast even in recent weeks, we must send a clear message to our minority ethnic communities that we stand firmly with them and that everyone has the right to live safely, peacefully and with dignity. That Bill will ensure that our racial equality laws fully reflect and respond to the needs of minority ethnic communities. I look forward to supporting that legislation though Committee Stage and seeing the positive impact that it will undoubtedly have on all our communities. It would be remiss of me not to mention the onshore petroleum licensing Bill that my colleague the Economy Minister, Dr Caoimhe Archibald, will be bringing forward. Although it will not fall within the remit of my Committee work, it is an issue that is close to my heart. One of my first acts when I joined the Assembly back in 2021 was to introduce a private Member's Bill to ban fracking, continuing the work of my predecessor, Seán Lynch. I have seen at first hand in my constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone the anxiety and disruption that even the threat of fracking has on a community. Sinn Féin has been steadfast in its support of those communities by standing firmly against fracking. Taken together, the Bills that I have mentioned, alongside the wider Executive legislation programme, reflect a shared determination to deliver meaningful change. I look forward to working with Ministers, Committees and Members from all parties to ensure that the Bills deliver tangible benefits for the people whom we represent.
418 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: 0.06 (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 (0.74).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.92).
- 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 | 0.14 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.07 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.74 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.06 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.08 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.92 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 1.00 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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