Topical question AQT 2323/22-27

Topical question by Ms Diane Forsythe on 11 May 2026.

MLA: Ms Diane Forsythe
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 11 May 2026
Type: Topical question
Assembly reference: AQT 2323/22-27
Business: Oral Answers to Questions
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5523990

Text

Ms Forsythe asked the Minister for Infrastructure how she can defend the position where the last reported cost of the A5 project was in the region of £153 million, including £43 million since she became Minister, not including costs from the financial year 2025-26, with no tarmac having been laid.

50 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Follow-ups by the same MLA in the Chamber

These were assessed together with this record:

11 May 2026 – I thank the Minister for her response. Does she accept that it was failings by her and by the AERA Minister and the…

Assessment

Not flagged

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: 0.05 (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 (0.93).
No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
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

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.02	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.02	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.01	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.03	No
Controversy escalation	0.03	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.93	Yes
Overall judgement	0.05	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.99
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.00
Adopts it	0.01

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
No identity-related subject	0.99
Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups	0.01
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 15:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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