Member's statement: Historical Clerical Child Abuse: Delays
Member's statement by Ms Paula Bradshaw on .
- MLA
- Ms Paula Bradshaw
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 21 October 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Historical Clerical Child Abuse: Delays
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5197194
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I feel a deep sense of frustration over the continuing delay in dealing with historical clerical child abuse in Northern Ireland, which needs to be dealt with urgently. At the start of the summer, the long-awaited commissioned research on that abuse was submitted to the Executive Office. I have been contacted by a member of the survivors' reference group to say that the group is very concerned that a meeting has not yet been convened between the chair of the interdepartmental working group and the First Minister and the deputy First Minister. The concerns that the representative raised with me included the fact that nine of the 10 recommendations associated with that research relate to safeguarding.
We cannot overestimate how important it is for us to get it right going forward. I have written to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister through their private office to request that the meeting be set up as soon as possible. We have seen delays in this place, in Northern Ireland, around supporting those impacted on by historical child abuse and delays in support for those who went through the mother-and-baby institutions. We have to learn from that, because we cannot let down a new cohort of victims and survivors of historical clerical child abuse. I hope that the First Minister and the deputy First Minister will convene the meeting, publish the research with the associated recommendations and bring to the Assembly a ministerial statement on how they intend to take the work forward. I will submit Assembly questions to that effect this afternoon, but we need political leadership from the First Minister and the deputy First Minister.
276 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: 0.05 (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 (0.93).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- 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 | 0.03 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.93 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.05 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.85 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.06 |
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.05 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.02 |
| Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism | 0.01 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:31 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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