Debate contribution: Ministerial Code of Conduct

Debate contribution by Mr Eóin Tennyson on 10 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Eóin Tennyson

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

10 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Ministerial Code of Conduct

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5435324

Read the official Assembly record

Text

What we witnessed last June was a festival of wanton racist violence, with members of our ethnic minority communities subjected to a race-based pogrom on our streets. I take great exception to Members, including the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who come to the Chamber and say, effectively, that it is a trivial matter and that there are more important things that we should be getting on with. Tell that to the families who were hiding in their attic, fearful of being killed. Tell that to the pregnant mother who had to be removed from her home in the middle of the night. Tell that to the children in my constituency who were going into school and telling their teachers that their mummy and daddy were fearful that they would be killed when they went to bed that night. I am sick, sore and tired of Members traipsing into the Chamber and engaging in culture wars and scapegoating minorities for their failures. That includes the Communities Minister, who, in the run-up to that festival of violence, when asked a question by me about the housing crisis, blamed migrants, because he was so fearful of taking responsibility for the housing targets that he had missed and so fearful of taking responsibility for the rent controls and regulation that he had not introduced. Our ethnic minority communities — all our minority communities — deserve better. When community tensions were at such a febrile level and at such fever pitch and when families were displaced from their homes, the Minister's response, as housing Minister, was not to put his arm round those families and to work to get them appropriate accommodation or to call on protesters not to attend protests that, we all knew, would inevitably turn violent — far from it, his response was to distance himself and his party from the decision to place those people in that accommodation. His response was to amplify the location of that temporary accommodation even though he knew the risks, and his response since has been nothing more than arrogance and contempt, blaming the standards commissioner, blaming the police and blaming the politicians who dared to call him to order or to question his motives. It is disgraceful and shameful. If the public are to have any trust and confidence in these institutions, we must show that there is integrity in this Building. I have to say that I do not see much integrity around me in the Chamber. We see dizzying levels of hypocrisy and whataboutery and no culture of accountability, no humility and no preparedness to admit that you got it wrong. The people whom we represent deserve so much better than what goes on in this toytown Parliament. It is disgraceful. There are solutions, and that is why we will support the motion. I believe in moving towards a culture of accountability and showing the public that, when there are breaches of the rules, there are consequences and Ministers will be held to account, rather than the circus of sectarian vetoes and mechanisms of the Assembly being used to protect party political interests and shield people from accountability. It was said that the Minister's comment was made in the heat of the moment: the test of leadership is how you respond in the heat of the moment and when you are under pressure. The Minister has utterly failed that test. The standards process that we have at the moment is a race to the bottom. It is a lowest common denominator approach whereby Ministers are held only to the standards that their leader can muster. History tells us that the bar is pretty low for the DUP in that respect, so we will support the motion. I ask the Minister again to take the opportunity, even if he is not going to resign and even if he is going to treat with utter contempt Members of the Assembly who are holding him to account, to at least apologise to the families who were so heavily affected by his failure to stand up and show leadership. It is the least that those people deserve, Minister.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

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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