Stormont's opposition leader calls for 'beefing up' of accountability for ministers - but TUV says he is ignoring existing mechanisms
Stormont’s official opposition is calling for the mechanisms by which ministers can be held to account to be ‘beefed up’ – but the TUV has accused the SDLP of ignoring existing mechanisms.
MLAs will today debate a motion from opposition leader Matthew O’Toole – who says Stormont “must strengthen sanctions for Ministers who breach the Ministerial Code or flagrantly break other rules”.
It comes in the wake of the row over education minister Paul Givan’s trip to Israel, which nationalists parties and Alliance argue broke Stormont rules.
That is denied by the DUP minister – who says his and his department’s handling of a press release about a visit to a school there has been given a clean bill of health by civil servants.
But Mr O’Toole says he will “set out in detail the ways in which the Education Minister’s actions have undermined confidence in the NI civil service code of ethics and potentially breached the law, as well as UK foreign policy in relation to occupied territories”.
The South Belfast MLA said: “One of the most striking things about Stormont is the crisis of accountability, whether for poor delivery or ministerial misbehaviour. Put simply, if a Minister is found to have breached the Ministerial Code, they should not be saved from any accountability by the stubbornness of their own party”.
He added: “This isn’t about one Minister, it is about establishing a form of government that supports families and communities across Northern Ireland – something totally lacking at the moment. On Monday the SDLP will be putting a clear challenge to parties – support our motion and begin the work of reforming Stormont”.
But TUV MLA Timothy Gaston will propose an amendment on the opposition motion “to highlight that we already have a process in place” where alleged breaches of the Ministerial Code can be examined.
“Instead of calling vaguely for the First Minister and deputy First Minister to dream up ‘reform proposals’, it requires them ‘to respect the role of the Commissioner for Standards when it comes to investigating breaches of the Ministerial Code”, the North Antrim MLA said.