Debate contribution: Exclusion of the First Minister from Office under Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998

Debate contribution by Mr Eóin Tennyson on 12 October 2026.

MLA: Mr Eóin Tennyson
Party at the time: Alliance Party
Date: 12 October 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Assembly Business
Heading: Exclusion of the First Minister from Office under Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5786690

Text

I was born in 1998, the year that the Drumcree dispute was brought to an end and the Good Friday Agreement was signed. It was supposed to be a new start for the community. The people of Northern Ireland were promised not just peace but progress, progress that has never been fully realised because of the poor political leadership on display in the Chamber today and outside it over recent weeks. It is depressing, dispiriting and almost unbelievable that we stand here today, 28 years on, with Pandora's box having been reopened, and the power-sharing institutions once again being placed in jeopardy. Rather than learning from our past, some in the Chamber seem determined to relive it, distracting from their lack of delivery in the present and their complete absence of any vision for the future. My question is "Why?". Why do we want to hark back to what was a hellscape, the tensions around which claimed the lives of 21 people, including the three young Quinn children? Politicians in the Chamber have invested inordinate amounts of energy reigniting the divisions of our past. Meanwhile, in the present, in 2026, half a million people are on waiting lists; some 25,000 food parcels have been given to local children to stop them going hungry; 60,000 people are experiencing some form of homelessness; our roads are crumbling; and our school buildings are falling apart. Yet, not half of that energy, anger or indignation has ever been levelled at tackling those issues. Let me be clear: the events of recent weeks are serious. If any elected representative is found to have acted unlawfully, they should face the consequences of that conduct. No one is above the law, and no one should expect special treatment because of the office they hold. If anything, we should be held to a higher standard as we are lawmakers. Alliance has always stood for a culture of lawfulness and accountability, but the motion is not really about accountability; it is a political stunt designed to destabilise and pull down the institutions, and that motive has been clear from the outset. We want no part in that wrecker's agenda. The Assembly must not become collateral damage in a scorched-earth political strategy of division and distraction designed by those who opposed power-sharing from the outset and have expressed their opposition to it again here today. A PSNI investigation is under way. There may well be further scrutiny through the established standards and accountability mechanisms of the Assembly, but respect for the rule of law means allowing those processes to reach their conclusion before rushing to judgement in a kangaroo court. Nor can the rule of law be cherry-picked. We have heard about "Do as I say and not as I do": well, of course, the leader of the DUP attended a protest that is now being investigated as potentially unlawful by the PSNI. We cannot cherry-pick the law either. Accountability requires consistency; it requires evidence; and it requires due process. It also requires proportionate sanction. The motion delivers none of those objectives. It runs roughshod over the established due process that is set out to deal with such issues. It recommends a disproportionate sanction, reaches a premature conclusion and, worse, risks creating the perception that politicians seek to influence the conclusions that will ultimately be reached by the courts. In recent days, we have heard calls for the resignation of the Chief Constable. It is, frankly, appalling that anyone who would profess to believe in the rule of law would turn their ire on the PSNI and the officers who have been placed in an invidious position by political failure and who have succeeded and should be commended for keeping people safe in the most difficult and trying of circumstances. It is the job of all of us in the Chamber to build confidence in the police, but it seems that, for some, it is far easier to dial that confidence down when it is convenient to do so. The policing operation alone has cost £5 million. Meanwhile, there was barely a whimper in the Chamber when the Education Authority told cold children simply to wear more clothes in school because their teachers cannot pay the energy bills for their school buildings. Let us remind ourselves again what is being proposed here. It is not a motion to censure an individual. It is not a motion to refer Ministers to the established investigative processes. It is a motion to exclude almost half the Ministers in the Executive from the power-sharing institutions, effectively collapsing government in the process, and to what end? I have heard many who support the motion say that they want to be responsible and that they do not want to play fast and loose with the institutions. Yet, they are here today ready to press self-destruct with this vote. Last week, Naomi Long warned that the Assembly had walked itself into a doom loop and that, if we do not pull back from the brink soon, it will be too late. That appeal has clearly fallen on deaf ears. The spectacle has damaged public confidence. People are weary after weeks of polarisation, provocation and triumphalism from the sectarian chants of "SS RUC" at officers who are too young to have even been employed by the RUC to the dehumanising, disgraceful and vile language of "sanitisation" being directed at the residents of the Garvaghy Road. The public are looking for leadership now to de-escalate, heal the deep wounds that have been prised open and put reconciliation first. We need to bring people back together after what has been a shameful and torturous few weeks; to make the institutions work, despite the glaring challenges; and to build a genuinely shared future. If the past few weeks have shown us anything, it is that we have been deluding ourselves. We have been simply managing division and sectarianism in this society, rather than doing the hard yards of breaking it down and overcoming it once and for all. That needs to be our priority now.

1,014 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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