Member's statement: Criminal Bar Association: Withdrawal of Services
Member's statement by Mr Doug Beattie MC on .
- MLA
- Mr Doug Beattie MC
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 13 January 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Criminal Bar Association: Withdrawal of Services
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5315840
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Yesterday's statement by the Justice Minister about the dispute with the Criminal Bar Association was timely, full, accurate and important. Unfortunately, it gave no solutions. I have a real fear that there is now a stand-off between the Bar and the Department of Justice. The only people who will suffer are the victims. I have also a real concern that the Executive's flagship ending violence against women and girls strategy will be irreparably damaged if we do not act on this quickly. We can talk about the Chloe Mitchell case, which is incredibly important, and the Natalie McNally case, which is close to my heart and also incredibly important. However, I met the Director of Public Prosecutions on Friday, and he informed me that crimes of a sexual nature, sexual violence and domestic abuse have gone up by 60%, and a lot of those would be heard in the Crown Court but now will not be. That will just increase as the days, weeks and months go by, and we really need to come up with a solution. I had already raised the issue of non-fatal strangulation with the Director of Public Prosecutions. If we remember, hundreds of cases of non-fatal strangulation were being heard in the Magistrates' Court with a maximum sentence of two years, when they should have been heard in the Crown Court with a maximum sentence of 14 years. We all know that with a little extra pressure on the neck or holding it for a little longer, non-fatal strangulation suddenly becomes attempted murder or even murder. That has been changed, so non-fatal strangulation will now be heard in the Crown Court. That is a success, but without the Crown Court sitting at full capacity, none of those cases will be heard. Yesterday, I thought that the questions were good, and the Minister gave fair and accurate answers, but no solutions were given, and we need solutions to this real problem. What are the solutions? We could give extra powers to the Magistrates' Courts and increase their sentencing powers to allow them to hear those cases. We could allow the cases to go to the Magistrates' Court for trial, but sentencing would happen in the Crown Court, so that the power to give stiffer sentences would not be lost. What is clear without a shadow of a doubt is that we cannot sit on our hands and complain about minutiae that are not really important, when victims, survivors and witnesses will suffer time and again over an industrial dispute that should have been dealt with months ago.
431 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: 0.04 (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 (0.94).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues.
- 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 | 0.04 | 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 | 0.94 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.04 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues | 0.65 |
| Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups | 0.30 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.05 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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