Member's statement: Antisemitism: Republic of Ireland
Member's statement by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 3 March 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Antisemitism: Republic of Ireland
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5434403
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Anyone who has witnessed the vile antisemitic slurs that have emanated from the Republic of Ireland recently, highlighted by two Jewish protesters being dragged out of a Holocaust event, which the then Irish president used as an opportunity to denigrate Israel, and the debacle over the attempts to rename Chaim Herzog Park in Dublin, will realise that Ireland has a particular problem with antisemitism that is made much worse by the fact that people, from the Taoiseach down, deny that there is an obvious issue. Ireland does not officially record incidents of antisemitism, so the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland took on that task and, yesterday, published its findings. The saddening but key points about the insidious racism of antisemitism are that, among a population of 2,200 people who identified as Jewish, there were 143 antisemitic incidents. Worse than that, the council believes that antisemitic incidents are being under-reported by 75%. There is no official state mechanism for recording antisemitic incidents, but the most common forms of harm included verbal abuse or slurs, threats and direct intimidation. The incidents occurred in everyday settings and everyday environments. A third were reported in public spaces: in educational settings, such as universities and schools; in workplaces; in healthcare settings; in retail and hospitality settings; on public transport; and in homes and residential contexts. Antisemitism is not confined to protests and demonstrations and the extremist views that are spread everywhere. It is experienced in the places where people work, study and try to access essential services. The digital targeting is particularly offensive and insidious. Holocaust distortion and denial is commonplace. Antisemitic conspiracies are everywhere: not only are they talking about historical issues, they are now talking about contemporary and other active issues. One of the worst things is that people were specifically identified by their accent, by speaking Hebrew in public, by wearing Jewish symbols or by being Jewish. That has absolutely nothing to do with a person's views or accounts; it just shows the degree of antisemitism that is prevalent in the Irish Republic. Something must be done.
345 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: 0.33 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- Criteria met: Identity framing (0.65).
- The text criticises or condemns the framing or division (0.89).
- Subject area: Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice).
- 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 | 0.65 | Yes |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.12 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.52 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.07 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.17 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.41 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.33 | Between thresholds |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing | 0.01 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it (chosen) | 0.89 |
| Adopts it | 0.10 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 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 15:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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