Debate contribution: Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Jeffrey Donaldson
Debate contribution by Ms Michelle O'Neill on .
- MLA
- Ms Michelle O'Neill
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 19 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Ending Violence Against Women and Girls: Jeffrey Donaldson
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5795723
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Yes, I absolutely agree with that. The DUP announced its review almost four months ago, and we still have not seen it. We need to know when the findings will be published. There are very serious questions that need to be answered. We have heard about the warning signs — that may be an understatement — of inappropriate and predatory behaviour that appear to have been ignored. We need to know who knew about it and when, why no action was taken to address his inappropriate and predatory behaviour and whether more could have been done — that is the question — to stop Donaldson in his tracks. The former DUP leader is now behind bars for his horrific crimes against two victims, and that is right. However, the DUP and the UUP now need to be transparent about his activities while in the most prominent roles in those parties. We need to know whether opportunities to intervene were missed and what is being done to ensure that others are protected. More questions are emerging, as we have seen even over the past 24 hours. There are questions about his behaviour in Westminster and while he was abroad as a representative of the British Government, and all those instances also need to be scrutinised. While the wishes and privacy of victims are paramount and must be protected paramount, I urge the DUP and the UUP to urgently publish those reports in full. There must be full transparency from both parties, because the victims and the public deserve answers.
258 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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