Debate contribution: Ministerial Code of Conduct

Debate contribution by Mr Jonathan Buckley on 10 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Jonathan Buckley

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 5435355

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I hear gnashing of teeth from the Alliance Party, but that is a statement of fact. People such as those in the Alliance Party who have continued to bury their head in the sand on the issue have given rise to a sinister and nasty element that must be called out. Like the Member for North Antrim, I was on the ground during those days, trying to bring peace, calm and stability to my community in difficult times, as was the Minister for Communities. Some of the political opportunism that has gone on in the Chamber today is nothing short of disgraceful. It is clear that you want to accept the commissioner's ruling when it suits your political school of thought, but you do not want to be consistent in ensuring that we, as elected representatives, can do our best to make sure that our citizens are protected, catered for and have a voice. When they do not have a voice, when you exclude them from political life to give air to genuine and legitimate concerns in our community, you give rise to more sinister elements.

I will not. I have heard quite a bit from the leader of the Opposition. A lot of hypocrisy has been called out in the Chamber. On numerous occasions, it has come from the Sinn Fein Benches, whether it is to do with the personal anguish that it has caused genuine victims of the Troubles in Northern Ireland or because it has continually attended vigils to commemorate and celebrate those who took the lives of innocent people. One day recently, I spoke to Mr Alan Black, the sole survivor at Kingsmills. To this day, when he gets on a bus, he still has comments made to him, such as "It would have taken only one bullet had it been me". Those are the types of comments that continue to hurt members of our community. How does it make people feel when a Sinn Féin Member glorifies a particular individual or attends a commemoration? Where is the commissioner's report and consistency on that level of empathy? I would argue that it does not exist. It is the same when we look at the SDLP. There has been no answer to the charge levelled against Mr Eastwood, nor have there been calls for a commissioner's investigation or, indeed, discipline. What about Claire Hanna, the current leader of the SDLP? That lady put out commentary about political violence during the Brexit negotiations. She said that we could expect civil disobedience at the very minimum. Is that not an incitement to hatred? Is that not a double standard from the leader of the Opposition? There is a consultation going on right now about reforming the Assembly. The reform that the SDLP wants, however, is a reform of exclusion. It is a reform of silencing, a reform of the very safeguards that nationalists put into the Belfast Agreement to ensure that there was no ganging-up on a political Member, only now to see them washed away because it is convenient to do so. I am sick, sore and tired of the jumped-up theatrics of the Alliance deputy leader, who talks people engaging in culture wars, and him a chief architect of culture wars. Perhaps he should look in the mirror. When he talks about the actions and the discourse of members of my party, I need not go too far to remind him that there is a video of him circulating that does not show him —

— in a positive light —

— when it comes to conduct —

— in public life.

Yes.

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. The hypocrisy is clear. Let me be clear: if you are intent on going down the road of trying to censor and indulge in cancel culture, be sure that the Members on these Benches will put your record up in lights for all to see. I welcome it that anybody can come into the Chamber and debate, but there should be no ability to cancel a Member who rightly acted as any MLA would do —

— in the interests of his constituents.

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

Assessment

Flagged Legacy of the Troubles, victims and paramilitarism

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:51 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

A second, larger AI model can read this record again, without being told the MLA’s name or party, against the same published rubric. It also asks whether the activity mainly serves the public interest or mainly advances division. Its verdict replaces the current one, whichever way it goes, and its reasons are published here. Each record can have one second assessment.

If you still think the record or its classification is wrong after that, or the record itself has a factual error, you can challenge it. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.