Debate contribution: Jeffrey Donaldson: Further Revelations

Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on 29 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Jon Burrows

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

29 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Matter of the Day

Heading

Jeffrey Donaldson: Further Revelations

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5644501

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I praise again the victims who gave evidence against Jeffrey Donaldson, and I hope that it sends a message to everyone in our society that, no matter who you are, you can be held to account. It is the time for higher standards of integrity and honesty in our politics, and I hope that the rest of the Members join in my call for forfeiture mechanisms to be put into our pension scheme so that those who are convicted of sexual crimes can have their pension stripped from them. It is an abiding scandal that Jeffrey Donaldson will get up to £60,000 a year in prison having been convicted of rape and that, if anything happens to him, the survivor's pension will go to the lady who aided and abetted that rape. That has to end. There are people who are having their assets stripped so that they can pay for nursing homes and care homes at the end of their life, having done the right thing for their whole life. That needs to be addressed. There are two aspects to this. There is the criminality of Jeffrey Donaldson. I take it in good faith, unless it is proved otherwise, that nobody knew that he was abusing those young girls. However, his behaviour was in plain sight, it seems. He was leading a double life. He was hypocritical. He was telling people to do as he said, not do as he did. That cannot be acceptable. It cannot be acceptable that that was not brought to the attention of the electorate. It cannot be acceptable that he was a blackmail risk in the United Kingdom. If he was acting in the way that was portrayed in the 'Spotlight' programme, he was extremely vulnerable to anyone trying to extort him or make him vulnerable to any form of blackmail. That needs to be addressed. If someone makes an allegation of sexual assault or any other crime against anybody, there is not just a responsibility to deal with it criminally, if the victim wishes, but a safeguarding responsibility that falls on any organisation. It is unforgivable if safeguarding was not discharged in the case where allegations were made. The need for a full inquiry into this is so important that I am calling on the Government. I have written to the Prime Minister today. We need a proper inquiry. This goes to the heart of what aspects of the Church knew, what politicians knew and what political parties knew; indeed, there is an allegation about what different police services knew or what the security services knew. Therefore, we need facts. We need to make sure that whoever is doing that review has access to all of the information and material. We need to learn lessons here. Someone who was a senior parliamentarian, who was knighted, who was on the Privy Council and who had grace and favour and access was acting in a way that would see you thrown out of a job in Tesco. There can be no excuse for his getting away with that. My thoughts are with the victim. This needs to be a defining moment in our politics. I will do my own rapid review in our party if we need to look at things, but the Prime Minister needs to grip this. This was a privy counsellor and a senior politician. People in Westminster will have seen this behaviour, and it cuts across all parties. We need a proper inquiry, and we need it now.

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

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:58 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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