Debate contribution: Ministerial Code of Conduct

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Frew on 10 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Frew

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

10 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Ministerial Code of Conduct

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5435308

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I oppose the motion, because it is absolutely nothing but political posturing. This has been a hypocritical debate. Like Sian Mulholland, I was on the ground in that period, along with other elected representatives from most parties. We saw the damage that was being done. We witnessed the violence and the pain, the hurt and the suffering of the victims as they fled their homes, with many of them concerned for their safety and lives. I know what it was like in that pressurised period. Most of the elected representatives who were on the ground got little sleep. Gordon Lyons would also have known that. The PSNI contacted his constituency office and told one of his staff members that it was really concerned about intelligence about a riot, a protest and violence at Larne Leisure Centre. I would have expected Gordon Lyons to sit up and take notice of that and to try to do all that he could to prevent damage to life, limb and the built form. That is exactly what Gordon Lyons did that day when, two hours later, he put out a factual post to say that the people who had been sheltering there the night before were no longer there, so there would be no need to have a protest at the focal point — the leisure centre — which was being occupied by people from Larne and other areas who were utilising the facilities that Larne has to offer. What is wrong with that? Gordon Lyons was acting as MLA for East Antrim and even stated that in his post. The first issue that we need to deal with is why the commissioner decided to investigate him under the ministerial code. There are two fundamental questions. When is a Minister acting in his professional capacity as a Minister with regard to his ministerial office and duties? And when is he acting as an MLA in his constituency office, helping his constituents, working for the people of East Antrim, working to provide facilities to keep people safe, working with the local police commander —?

Yes, I will.

The Member makes a valid point. That means that the commissioner has been inconsistent on those issues. That is why we need reform of the standards process. We also need to ensure that Ministers are afforded the same protection as MLAs and are adjudicated on by a panel of their peers, as every MLA can be. Not having that is a loss. It is a slight that we need to rectify. We have a commissioner — one person, no matter who they are — who produces a deeply flawed report, and the only other place it can be aired is the Chamber, which is a political arena. That is wrong and unfair and is not natural justice. We hear from people who line up hypocritically to take a dig at Gordon Lyons for doing what the police asked him to do: to try to calm people down and to put out factual information about there being nobody sheltering in that facility. Here we have a commissioner who believed Michelle O'Neill when she said that she did not see the sex offender in the Great Hall but did not believe Gordon Lyons. Gerry Carroll was investigated as an MLA. As an MLA, he stated, "Victory to the Palestinian resistance", with two clenched fists. When did he do that? On the day of the Hamas attacks. The commissioner believed Gerry Carroll when he said, "Oh, I just woke up; I was rubbing my eyes". In 2021,the SDLP called for the sacking of nurses and healthcare workers in a complete breach of their human rights, yet nothing was done. The SDLP's former leader breached the law when he walked down a street illegally and has accepted a caution for that. Of course, the only Minister in this place who has been found guilty in a court of law for religious discrimination against a Protestant — or anyone, for that matter — is Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin. Listen to the hypocrisy, and people will know who in this place is wasting time —

— when we should be fixing potholes, our health service and everything that goes with it.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Second assessment

Jev’s answers did not settle this record, so a second model, claude-opus-5-5, read the same text (without the MLA’s name or party) and gave its reasons on 21 October 2026. How the second assessment works

Verdict

Not flagged

Public interest or divisiveness

Mixed

Against the published rubric

The contribution is mainly a defence of a minister in a standards debate about a social media post made during violence directed at people who had sheltered in Larne Leisure Centre. It argues that the commissioner's investigation was inconsistent and that the standards process needs reform. It describes the victims sympathetically, speaking of "the violence and the pain, the hurt and the suffering of the victims as they fled their homes", and it does not frame the issue as a contest between communities. The closing list of other parties' alleged misconduct, including a jibe about "religious discrimination against a Protestant", is partisan whataboutery about named individuals and specific findings, not hostility towards a community as a whole.

Public interest or divisiveness

Much of the speech deals with a genuine question about where ministerial duties end and constituency work begins, and with how the standards process treats ministers. The second half, however, is largely tit-for-tat point-scoring against other parties, citing unrelated controversies to allege "hypocrisy". That is adversarial party politics rather than identity-based division, but it adds little to the substance, so both elements are significant.

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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