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 5269273
Read the official Assembly record
Text
One of the areas that we can be so pleased with in the work on Together: Building a United Community has been how it has brought people together. It has had a really positive impact, and that is why we are now looking at future iterations of it. The good relations programme is match funded, delivering £2·8 million in funding in 2025-26. That supports good relations projects on the ground that we are all aware of in our constituencies. Even since this summer, we have had additional funding provided to fund projects that are about the promotion of integration, particularly given what we saw earlier in the year.
I really believe that that will help us to improve community relations and to deliver a truly shared and inclusive society.
As with many of the questions that have been asked today, that is not a matter for the Executive Office. There was no criminal investigation. The PPS and the PSNI did their job.
I think that I have answered that question. I have made very clear the basis on which I —
You may not like it, but the answer is very factual, and I can stand over the position that I took. When I made the statement to the House on 22 October 2024, I did so as Sinn Féin vice president. There was a criminal investigation, and the action that I took was wholly appropriate in the context of that investigation.
I am confident in the action that I took. I have nothing to add to what I have said already, folks.
In my initial answer, I stated that there is nothing to be seen and that we will write to the Committee. I have already signed off on the response that will go to the Committee, as I have just stated. That response will set out clearly that there was no briefing and no list of invitees. Junior Minister Reilly did not attend in her capacity as junior Minister, and you know that.
Again, that has nothing to do with the Executive Office, and I believe that Ms Ní Chuilín answered that question in the Committee.
I can point out as a matter of fact that I addressed the House from the Back Benches as Sinn Féin vice president, as the Member's party's Ministers do on occasion. I am confident in the actions that I took in the discharge of my duties. I have repeated that on numerous occasions today.
412 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: 0.30 (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).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.94).
- Subject area: Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations.
- 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 | 0.12 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.05 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.05 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.27 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.45 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.30 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.94 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.02 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.04 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations | 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 14:03 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.