Member's statement: Nazareth House and St Eugene's Primary Schools: Structural Issues
Member's statement by Mr Mark Durkan on .
- MLA
- Mr Mark Durkan
- Party at the time
- Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Date
- 8 December 2025
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Nazareth House and St Eugene's Primary Schools: Structural Issues
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5284142
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I will speak briefly about the severe challenges facing Nazareth House Primary School and St Eugene's Primary School in Derry. Both schools are dealing with unacceptable, unsafe structural issues and huge uncertainty. Our children and families are feeling the impact. Even in the midst of the disruption, the dedication of the staff in both schools has been exceptional. Their professionalism, compassion and resilience are keeping the school communities together.
They have adapted at speed, reassured pupils and continued to deliver high-quality learning under immense pressure. I pay sincere tribute to every teacher, classroom assistant, principal and member of support staff, as well as to the wider community, which has rallied to support them.
Let me be clear: the roofs did not fall in overnight. Issues had been flagged for almost two decades. If appropriate action had been taken earlier, those crises could — would — have been avoided. Timely investment and appropriate intervention would have spared families, staff and pupils the huge inconvenience and uncertainty that they are now forced to endure. It is beyond time for the Department of Education and the Education Authority (EA) to act decisively to provide immediate and safe learning spaces and to put in place and communicate a firm, funded plan to address long-overdue repairs and rebuilds. While the leaders of those schools ask, "What next?", others who are fighting similar, seemingly endless battles for funding to address similar structural issues will be asking, "Where next?". Without a proper review of and investment in the maintenance of our crumbling school estate, we will see more forced closures of schools and the chaos that comes with that. To the staff of Nazareth House Primary School and St Eugene's Primary School and to all those other schools out there, I say this: thank you. We will continue to stand with you and fight for the facilities and investment that our children deserve.
316 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: 0.03 (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 (0.92).
- 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 | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.02 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.92 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.03 | 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 | 0.67 |
| Education structures, integration and community division | 0.22 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.11 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:08 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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