Debate contribution: Exclusion of the First Minister from Office under Section 30 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998
Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on .
- MLA
- Mr Jon Burrows
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist 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 5786692
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The motion is, above all else, about the rule of law. It is about the cardinal principle — I will not give way during this speech — that everyone is subject to the law, whether they are the most prosperous and powerful or the poorest and least powerful. The rule of law applies to us all. This is not a new road for Sinn Féin to be on. It is the road on which you can break a law if you disagree with it and there is no alternative to breaking the law. Blowing up our town centres: no alternative. Orphaning children: no alternative. Widowing women: no alternative. Taking young men into back alleys with cudgels and shooting them in the knees: no alternative. The deaths of Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball: no alternative; they were collateral damage in your war. The difference between you and us is that I can say that the murder of the three Quinn boys was outrageous. The people who did it were vile criminals, and there was never a justification. You cannot say that for the children who were murdered by your predecessors in the Provisional IRA. That is the reality. That is the moral difference. You can sit there and smirk, as Mr Kelly is doing. He is a man whose hands drip in blood. No one like you would be in a party like mine. That is the difference between us and them. Let us turn to the example that you have set to young people. Ms O'Neill is someone of remarkable privilege. For a party of Marxist economics, it has remarkable privilege. When Ms O'Neill, Mr O'Dowd and the other Ministers break the law, do you know what they get? They might get more votes —.
You can explain it to the judge.
The final judge will judge you. Here is the selfish thing, and I said it to Mr Carroll today: when you break the law, you get more votes, and, when young people follow your example, they lose opportunities. You encourage people to break the law. Do you know what they will do? They will pay the price. It is morally bankrupt.
You have a recurring problem with accountability. You still have not made the decision to back the rule of law. You joined the Policing Board late after you joined the institutions.
You could not obey the law at Bobby Storey's funeral. When a young constable did no wrong on the Ormeau Road, Ms O'Neill threatened the Chief Constable. She said that she would call on him to resign on 'Sunday Politics'. I have seen the disclosure in the text messages. I have seen the minutes. I have got them.
Yeah, yeah. You threatened a republican Drumcree actually. I have seen that.
No. I was an expert witness in the case, and it was disclosed.
No, I did not. You threatened to withdraw from the Policing Board and the Executive. I wonder whether you made the same threat to the Chief Constable this time. You have a big problem with accountability. People say that there is no leadership from the leaders of unionism. The difference between you and me is that I will say to every member of the Protestant/unionist/loyalist community, as I said on 'The Nolan Show' today, "Do not fall into their trap of not notifying parades. Do not stoop to their level. Notify the parade".
You used that language to me in the office. I have challenged you on it in a police station before. I do not use that language towards Catholics. You might do.
OK. All right.
Thank you. Unlike Sinn Féin, I will say to the Protestant/unionist/loyalist community, "Notify your parades. Notify your protests. Do not break the law". I can say that and you cannot, yet you talk about leadership. There is no leadership in you — not one ounce of it.
Thanks for that. I turn to the Alliance Party. What has happened to the Alliance Party? They engage enthusiastically on no-confidence motions against other parties' Ministers but, when it is a motion against their Minister, they get up and leave. They enthusiastically called for people and voted to censure Gordon Lyons for a social media post, but defend Sinn Féin for blatantly breaking the law. They follow Sinn Féin into the voting Lobbies more often than any other party. They have been body-snatched by Sinn Féin. Yes, it was a good line, but it is true. The Members who were "the adults in the room" now leave the room when accountability comes out. We go back to the very nub of the issue: we have a party that simply will not sign up to the normal rules of democracy. There are different views in the unionist community on various aspects of Drumcree. We are not an homogenous block. From the outset of the situation and throughout I called for mediation. I called for solutions from day 1. The language that you used was to whip people up, telling them to defy the rule of law and link arms. The Minister for Infrastructure has made cheap digs: you cannot even fix the potholes in the roads. It is a reprehensible failure. The First Minister comes out with the same line as all her predecessors: "The border poll is just around the corner and over the next bend". We have heard it all before. It is a failed project. The people you murdered? It was for nothing.
Yeah, it was all of you collectively.
Well, your former paramilitary wing murdered. You are inextricably linked. You should be ashamed of your conduct. You have damaged the institutions.
Thanks for that, John. People can see you. Jonny Buckley is right: your new Ireland is dead in the water. It died on the Garvaghy Road. You can laugh and smirk. We can see you.
980 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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