Debate contribution: Catherine Connolly, President of Ireland

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 3 November 2025.

MLA: Mr Paul Frew
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 3 November 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Matters of the Day
Heading: Catherine Connolly, President of Ireland
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5212783

Text

First, I state categorically that the presidential election in the Republic of Ireland is for the people of the Republic of Ireland. As a democrat, I will always support using democratic means to support a head of state, no matter where that state may be in the world. We need to be champions of democracy in all its ilks and in all parts of the world. Looking on during the election in the Republic of Ireland, I was struck by the fact that a number of things happened that had not happened in quite a while, one of which was the spoiled ballots, as has been mentioned. Thirteen per cent of ballots were spoiled. That must be a first in the history of the Republic of Ireland. That lends itself to a discontentment among the populace of the Irish Republic that politicians down there should look to and be mindful of. The second thing that struck me was the negative campaigning. As a politician and a democrat, I am scared to think about the level of negative and untruthful campaigning that went on. The way in which that practice played out does not bode well for the future of democracy, especially Western democracies. You can always deny a fake news story or negative digital campaigning, but what you cannot deny about this election is the naked sectarianism that was on display against candidate Heather Humphreys. What that did for most unionists in Northern Ireland, I suggest, is reaffirm how the Irish Republic is no place to be comfortable in if you are a unionist or even a Protestant. It pains me to say that. It harks back to a time when the Republic of Ireland — look at its extradition policies — harboured terrorists. It even harks back to the movement of a massive number of Protestant people who left what became the Republic of Ireland and ended up needing to go to England and gain support from the Government through schemes, because they were left homeless after being burned out of their homes. It was not only Protestants, mind you, but service people of all ilks who had served in the First World War. It echoes and harks back —
— to a time in the Republic of Ireland that we do not want to see again.

388 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Qualifying Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations

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: 0.81 (qualifying needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not qualifying).
Criteria met: Identity framing (0.92); Dog-whistle messaging (0.73); Controversy escalation (0.60).
The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.87).
Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
The text adopts an antagonistic or dog-whistle framing, which qualifies even alongside legitimate scrutiny.

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

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.92	Yes
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.42	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.52	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.73	Yes
Controversy escalation	0.60	Yes
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.10	No
Overall judgement	0.81	Above qualifying threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing	0.01
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.12
Adopts it (chosen)	0.87

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations	0.98
Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice)	0.02
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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