Debate contribution: Belfast City Hall: 19 October 2024
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 1 December 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Question for Urgent Oral Answer
- Heading
- Belfast City Hall: 19 October 2024
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5269226
Read the official Assembly record
Text
There have been a number of inaccurate comments and claims made in relation to the events at Belfast City Hall on 19 October 2024, including at the Executive Office Committee last week. The junior Minister said at that Committee meeting that she attended the event as a West Belfast constituency MLA and, equally, as a Gaeilgeoir. She was very clear about that statement then, so let me also be very clear today. That invitation was not accepted in her role as junior Minister. As would be normal practice for all Ministers in TEO. Aisling Reilly forwarded the invitation to the private offices to ascertain whether she could attend in her role as junior Minister. That is the only reason why the invitation is held on file. To be clear, the total information held by the Executive Office is one email, an invitation to Aisling Reilly as a constituency MLA. Aisling Reilly and four other Sinn Féin representatives received the invitation. Aisling Reilly, as junior Minister, did not receive five complimentary tickets. The invitation was not fulfilled in the role as junior Minister. TEO had no further involvement beyond registering the case. TEO did not provide any advice in respect of the invitation. There was no briefing commissioned or compiled from officials, and, for absolute clarity, TEO does not hold any further information in relation to the events of 19 October. Aisling Reilly attended the event as a West Belfast constituency MLA and as a Gaeilgeoir, so, for the avoidance of doubt, the Executive Office was not represented at the event. I have signed off on a written departmental response to the Executive Office Committee, which will confirm all that. The question also refers to our commitments to the elimination of prejudice, racism and hate crime. Let me be clear: many forms of hate and prejudice, racism and sectarianism, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and sexism exist in our society. The Assembly can be fully confident that we all collectively have a role to say no to all that and to stand up collectively against any form of intolerance. That is the work that I am focused on getting on with. On what you asked, on 22 October, I did make a statement to the Assembly as Sinn Féin vice president, so you are incorrect in your statement. The events in Belfast City Hall on 19 October have been fully investigated by the PSNI and the PPS, and I said that in the Chamber last week. The PPS has made its decision, and that is the appropriate course of action. Given that there was a criminal investigation, I am confident that the action that Sinn Féin took was entirely appropriate.
Yes, I do, and that is why I said that we collectively have a role, as elected representatives in the Chamber, to stand very firm against discrimination, hate, sectarianism, racism, homophobia, misogyny or anything that we see and to send a very clear collective message that there is no place for this in our society. We cannot — again, this is a collective endeavour — allow these incidents to happen. We cannot allow people to mark out territory or to attack homes. They must be dealt with with the full force of the law. We cannot allow any of those things to become normal behaviour, because, collectively, we are tasked with leadership in this Assembly to try to build an inclusive society. I am certainly committed to that, and I am sure that many others in the Chamber are also.
The question only arises at this moment in time out of political opportunism — not by you, of course, but by others who want to use this issue. The question arose in the Committee last week, and I can assure you, as the Chair of the Committee, that I have signed off on a response to you that will set out very clearly what I have said in the Chamber today. Hopefully that will clarify the matter for you.
That should not even be a question put to me. Absolutely, of course, all day long.
682 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: 0.41 (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).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.95).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- The overall probability was low and the text did not adopt any identity-based framing.
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 | 0.20 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.16 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.09 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.26 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.28 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.41 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.05 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.95 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 0.89 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.11 |
| 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 14:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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