Debate contribution: Exclusion of the Minister of Education from Office

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 10 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

10 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Assembly Business

Heading

Exclusion of the Minister of Education from Office

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5224391

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Mr Speaker, I will not be taking any interventions. I welcome the opportunity to respond to the debate and to take the opportunity to expose the toxic mix of antisemitism, anti-unionism and hypocrisy that is at the heart of the motion. The motion was proposed by a man who has never condemned the murder of over 1,200 Israelis and is now backed by a coalition of those who will jump on to every bandwagon going. The debate has exposed the ugly face of pan-nationalism and its fellow travellers. I am confident that, when the votes are cast, the attempt to drive me from office will have failed, but, in the process, some deeper truths will have been revealed. Those truths will not be lost on the unionist community. We have seen the informal creation of a new coalition of Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party under the leadership and direction of Gerry Carroll. We have witnessed a calculated attempt to drive a unionist Minister from office, not for misconduct but simply for daring to dissent from the prevailing anti-Israel orthodoxy of Irish nationalism. That is not principled politics; it is an attempt at ideological purging. We have had a glimpse into a new Ireland. It is not a land flowing with milk and honey but a land where unionists serve only at the pleasure of and on terms dictated by nationalists and republicans, aided and abetted by the Alliance Party. It is a vision not of equality but of subjugation. The motion has not just targeted me; it has sent a chilling message to the unionist community that our convictions, our values and our right to engage with the wider world are to be policed and punished. It is a warning to every unionist voice that dares to speak outside the lines that have been drawn by nationalism. It tells our community, "You may participate", but only on their terms. You may speak but only if you say what they want to hear. It is because those truths have revealed themselves that I welcome the motion and the opportunity to reply today. Let me begin with the trumped-up charges drafted by Mr Carroll but signed and endorsed by others. The motion suggests that I do not support the rule of law and have breached the ministerial code in some undefined way. It is signed by those who, for generations, refused to recognise the police, the courts and the rule of law in Northern Ireland and still claim that there was no alternative to murder, including the murder of over 70 children by the Provisional IRA. We truly are in Alice in Wonderland territory. What is it that the MLAs who speak and seek a political lynching want? Is it to rebuke me for my conduct in visiting a school where Jews, Arabs and Christians are educated together? No. It is to exclude me from office altogether. It is a form of political internment — exclusion without a proper trial — not for the minimum period of three months but for the statutory maximum of 12 months, indicating that there can be no greater punishment for any Minister, no matter their conduct. What is the case against me? Going to Israel on a fact-finding mission to hear from the victims of terrorism? Going to a country with which the United Kingdom retains full diplomatic relations and an embassy in Tel Aviv? Going to visit a school during that trip? Are Members seeking to tell me what to think or where to go? Is it, as some would suggest, merely asking the Department to publicise my visit to a school — yes, a school — on the departmental website and on social media, a request that was properly approved at the highest level in the Department before it was issued? As I said last week, my permanent secretary assessed the Department's role with regard to the trip and concluded that its involvement was limited and administrative in nature. That was deemed appropriate, given the need to manage the Israel trip within my broader ministerial diary and the need to cancel other engagements. Where do those alleged offences fit into the annals of the Assembly? Has it been forgotten that, far from simply visiting a school, there are Members in the House, some of whom have served as Ministers, including as Education Minister, who were personally guilty of the most heinous crimes without one word of regret or remorse? The Assembly has considered exclusion motions on a handful of occasions, so let us compare the gravity of those allegations with those that I face today. Are today's trumped-up charges truly more serious than the refusal of the IRA to decommission its weapons and to continue to murder people when Sinn Féin remained in government in the early years of devolution?

Are they more serious than when the police raided Sinn Féin's offices in this very Building, investigating a suspected spy ring on the back of the IRA's break-in at Castlereagh police station and its training of FARC terrorists in Colombia? Remember this: I went to visit children in a school, whereas Sinn Féin's partners in the IRA went to Colombia to teach terrorists how to use car bombs. That is the contrast; that is the truth.

What of the countless occasions when no exclusion motion was brought? Is it more serious than when an industrial tribunal found Conor Murphy to have discriminated against a Protestant on religious grounds and that his evidence was "implausible and lacking credibility"? There was no exclusion motion then. Is it more serious than when Margaret Ritchie, Mark Durkan and Michelle O'Neill were separately found, by the High Court, to have acted unlawfully and in breach of the ministerial code? There were no exclusion motions then. Is it more serious than when the IRA murdered Kevin McGuigan on the streets of Belfast, and the police and security services confirmed that Sinn Féin continued to operate subject to the direction of the Provisional IRA army council? There were no exclusion motions then. Is it more serious than when the then deputy First Minister brazenly and unapologetically violated the Executive's own COVID regulation at the peak of a global health crisis, undermining public trust and setting a dangerous precedent at a time when leadership was needed most? There were no exclusion motions then. There was no outrage and no accountability. What of my accusers? Do they come with clean hands? Gerry Carroll, the author of the motion, is the same man who tweeted "Victory to the Palestinian Resistance" as Israelis were being murdered — a tweet that remains on his timeline to this day and for which he has never apologised. That is the man who would stand in judgement of me, but Gerry Carroll does not stand alone. No longer at the margins of political acceptability, others row in behind him to create Gerry Carroll's coalition of hate. What of Sinn Féin's Deputy Chair of the Education Committee, Mr Pat Sheehan? He is a man with a chequered past to say the least. Having once been sentenced to 15 years for bombing a cash and carry, following his release he attempted to bomb a security checkpoint in Belfast. On that occasion, he was convicted and sentenced to serve 24 years and was released only under the terms of the Belfast Agreement. Now, he is not just an MLA but a friend of Hamas. No wonder it took his party leader five days, following the horrendous events of 7 October 2023, to condemn the attacks on Israel. Sinn Féin alleges that the Israelis are guilty of genocide, but allegations of genocide are no impediment to Sinn Féin's approach to China. We can look at the genocide of the Uyghur community that is taking place in China, but Sinn Fein's hypocrisy is such that it is prepared to turn a blind eye whenever it suits. What of the Alliance Party, which is now a bedfellow of Gerry Carroll as well as a regular bedfellow of Sinn Féin? Mr Mathison accused me of being on a propaganda visit. That is grossly offensive. If he had seen and heard what I saw and heard, he would not have said such a thing. The motion is not about justice but ideology. It is not about conduct; it is about control. I will continue to speak up for those who need to have their voices heard. I was in Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust memorial centre, and will remember the six million Jews — men, women and children — who were murdered in the Holocaust. While the debate has helped to expose and reveal the true face of Gerry Carroll's coalition and the hypocrisy that is at the heart of the opposition that has been levelled at me, it is a distraction from the work that I have been doing — we have been doing a lot. While the Alliance-led Education Committee has been pondering whether a three-year-old can be trans, I have been focusing on what happens in the classroom. In my first 18 months, I ensured that the starting pay for teachers increased by over £7,500 to £31,650. More generally, teachers' pay has increased by between 16% and 18%. Later this month, the independent review of teacher workload will report, and we will take forward a package of measures to ensure that teachers can focus on the place in which they matter the most: the classroom. On behalf of the Executive, I have delivered the most meaningful package of childcare measures in the history of Northern Ireland. Later this week, I will submit the early learning and childcare strategy to the Executive for consideration. I am undertaking a far-reaching programme of reform to support special educational needs. I have introduced new guidance to discourage the use of mobile phones in schools. I have introduced legislation to ensure that school uniforms are affordable. I have brought common sense back to our education system by making it clear that biological boys should not be playing in girls' sports, using girls' toilets or changing in girls' changing rooms. In the face of opposition in the House, I have been vindicated by the courts for correctly applying the law that the Assembly passed on integrated education. I have assembled a team of international educational experts to ensure that Northern Ireland will have a world-leading education system. In TransformED, I have launched the most far-reaching and comprehensive reform of education in generations, focusing on curriculum, assessment, school improvement and qualifications, all of which is underpinned by a focus on and investment in teacher professional learning. When implemented, that will help to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged children and raise standards for every child. I have invested £31 million in teacher professional learning in the largest-ever intervention of that kind. In short, by learning from others and building on our own successes, we are creating an education system that can compete with the very best across the world. That is the ambition that I have for every child. To conclude, the motion is not a stand for principle; rather, it is a stand for political convenience. It is not about upholding standards; it is about silencing dissent. The message is clear: if you dare to think differently, if you dare to stand with Israel and if you dare to speak up for victims of terrorism, you will be hunted, hounded and hauled before the Assembly. I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. I will not be removed by those who preach tolerance but practise exclusion. I will not apologise for standing with victims of terrorism. I will not apologise for visiting a school where Jews, Arabs and Christians learn together. While others indulge in performative outrage, I will continue to deliver for our children, our schools and our future. Whether those people like it or not, so long as my party entrusts me with this office, I will be here. I will quote Tennyson's 'Ulysses':

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Despite the best efforts of Mr Carroll's coalition of hate, we on this side of the House will not yield. The unionist people of Northern Ireland will not yield, and we will not be silenced by those who once brought terror to these shores to drive us from office. The true nature of their new Ireland is exposed. I oppose the motion and all those who have brought it.

2,090 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Qualifying Sectarianism, hate crime and community relations

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:41 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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