First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said she will continue to stand with Garvaghy Road residents, insisting that when the law is wrong, she will stand firmly against it.
Appearing for an urgent oral question in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Ms O’Neill said that “when the law is wrong, I will stand firmly against it”.
“It is morally wrong what’s happening to the people on the Garvaghy Road,” she added.
Parade stand-off and investigation
The First Minister has been accused of “breaking the law” in terms of supporting Garvaghy Road residents who opposed a determination by the Parades Commission to allow an Orange Order parade along the road for the first time in almost 30 years.
The parade has not taken place because police said they could not facilitate it with crowds gathered on the Garvaghy Road in opposition.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating the prevention of the parade, and potential offences of unnotified protest, obstructing a lawful parade and breaching the Parades Commission determination.
Ms O’Neill had been due to face an urgent oral question from DUP MLA Philip Brett last week but was not available to attend.
Assembly criticism and responses
Speaker Edwin Poots told the Assembly on Monday that ministers are “always subject to the code of conduct”, adding: “it is not a precedent that any speaker or indeed any assembly could tolerate that any minister on any issue could decide for themselves whether they agree with the speaker’s decision that a question should be selected and whether they wish to come to the House to answer it”.
He said the decision not to attend last Monday was “discourteous to members, and indeed to the wider public. It was unacceptable, and had it continued the Assembly has the powers to call witnesses and that would have exercised.”
Sinn Féin ministers and elected representatives from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and People Before Profit have also been criticised for being present on the Garvaghy Road.
Ms O’Neill told MLAs she is “fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement, including the ministerial code and pledge of office”.
“I stand resolutely with the residents of the Garvaghy Road… they have suffered generations of sectarianism and generations of domination, of intimidation and of violence… as a result of a reckless demand for an unwanted sectarian march through this peaceful community,” she said.
DUP MLA Phillip Brett put to Ms O’Neill that her “refusal” to come to the House last week for an urgent oral question “showed utter contempt”.
He said the police said the protest she was “involved in” was unlawful, and asked if found to have breached the ministerial code or the law, would she resign as First Minister.
Ms O’Neill responded: “Catch yourself on.
“I am going to continue to turn up for the people of the Garvaghy Road. I am proud to stand with them and I will continue to stand with them.”
Political reactions and calls for consequences
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston put to Ms O’Neill that she is the “First Minister of lawlessness”, to which she responded: “I am the First Minister of what is right, I will continue to be the First Minister of what is right, and including standing up for the residents of the Garvaghy Road.”
UUP leader Jon Burrows put to Ms O’Neill that she was trying to justify breaking the law, and is “completely morally bankrupt”.
Ms O’Neill responded: “No, I do not”.
DUP MLA Trevor Clarke asked whether police had been in contact with her, Ms O’Neill said: “No, I have not been approached, but I own my choices.”
Earlier, DUP leader Gavin Robinson insisted it cannot be “business as normal” at Stormont following alleged “law breaking” by Sinn Féin ministers, claiming 40 political representatives had “broken the law”.
TUV leader Jim Allister challenged the DUP to ensure consequences for Northern Ireland’s “First Minister of lawlessness” by withdrawing its deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, from the Executive.
UUP leader Jon Burrows called for an end to the Drumcree stand-off to allow police to go back to daily duties, as well as investigating alleged law breaches over the impasse.
“This needs to end soon, and then the consequences have to be brought to bear for Sinn Féin,” he said.
“Is Michelle O’Neill in my view fit for office? In my view, no, she is not. That’s why we will support the case that she has breached the pledge of office.”
SDLP leader Claire Hanna called for a “good outcome” for Drumcree “that allows people in Portadown to get on with their lives”.
She said there is “still a job to do at Stormont”, highlighting that six months into the financial year, a budget has still not been set.
DUP stance and further accusations
Mr Robinson vowed to hold Sinn Féin ministers to account, but that his party will not be goaded into collapsing the powersharing government.
“There is no question of us abdicating our responsibilities,” he said.
“People at home are asking the question of those who are abdicating their responsibilities, their pledge of office and their commitment to sharing power in Northern Ireland.
“This weekend we saw again a cavalier attitude towards the rule of law by senior Sinn Féin representatives on the Garvaghy Road – they blocked the road again.
“The PSNI has indicated very clearly that it was an un-notified process, that there will be criminal sanctions.”
Mr Robinson said they have processes in place with regard 40 elected representatives.
“It is not business as usual, we have scores and scores and scores of complaints that have been submitted with standards commissioners, a motion of no confidence has been signed in this place, there are individuals who are elected representatives in other forum, councillors, local government standards commissioners’ complaints in,” he said.
“We have identified over 40 elected representatives out breaking the law continually over the last week, there has got to be consequences.”
He said Mr Allister “has fallen into the trap laid for him by republicans who have all but given up (on powersharing government) and if he wants to walk that dance with them, that is a matter for him.
“What he can’t answer is what happens next, how does it resolve the situation at Drumcree, how does it resolve the questions around pledges of office, nor does it answer how the budget situation gets resolved.”
Mr Robinson added: “I recognise that the Portadown Orangemen have been constructive throughout the entirety of the last week.
“They haven’t called for thousands to descend upon the Garvaghy Road or Drumcree Hill. They haven’t sought to raise tensions, they have abided by the law, and it stands in stark contrast to those on the Garvaghy Road.”
Mr Allister accused Sinn Féin of an “open, deliberate, conscious defiance of the rule of law”.
“Sinn Féin ministers have breached the law and seem indifferent as to whether they keep the law or break the law,” he said.
“So long as the DUP, who put Sinn Féin into government, sustain them in government, then when Michelle O’Neill and others get the knock on the door from police, if they do, they effectively have in their hand a character reference from the DUP that they are fit to govern by virtue of the fact they have sustained them there.
“The question for the DUP and other unionists in the Executive is: do they think Sinn Féin are fit to govern? Because if they don’t, the answer lies in their own hand.
“The answer lies in reversing the process that put them there in the first place by resigning their deputy First Minister and demonstrating that there are consequences for breaking the law.”
