Debate contribution: Legislation Programme 2025-26
Debate contribution by Mr Andrew McMurray on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew McMurray
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 13 October 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Legislation Programme 2025-26
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5176128
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I wish the First Minister well in her absence. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this. It is a new experience for me, not least as some of Bills come from the then Infrastructure Minister O'Dowd's departmental legislative programme in March 2024, which preceded my coming here. The then Minister listed a number of pieces of legislation, at the time, of which one of the two main pieces was the Water, Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Bill, which was introduced in the summer and passed its Second Stage a few weeks ago. We are beginning to scrutinise that in Committee now. I am looking forward to hearing the evidence from a range of stakeholders. I said in its Second Stage debate that I welcomed that important Bill. It is an important Bill, not least for my constituents who, unfortunately, are no strangers to flooding. I hope that that Bill progresses without undue delay. The current Minister intends to introduce the ports and harbours Bill in this session. I know that preparations are being made for that. The Infrastructure Committee has already received evidence in relation to that Bill. We are broadly supportive of the Bill, not least because of the financial designation to allow the trust ports to invest more. With that, we hope to see a bit more investment in offshore energy. Hopefully, that will come to my constituency. It could lead the way in offshore renewables and boost the blue-green economy by bringing in good, skilled and well-paid jobs. I have a few concerns about the Bill, however. It seems to take some oversight away from the Department in order to give the trust ports directions. The Department has never used those powers and has declined to interfere in matters, despite there being substantial local discontent. I am keen to better understand what those powers entail and what circumstances would trigger their use. I want to see safeguards in place to ensure that the interests of local communities are not compromised. Finally, other proposed Bills have not been progressed too far, namely the rail and road transport Bill and the transport decarbonisation Bill. The Committee will be looking to see how those Bills are progressed in due course.
371 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 (0.88).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.88 | 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 | 0.99 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.01 |
| 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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