O’Neill again fails to show for Assembly question but vows to attend next week

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First Minister Michelle O’Neill has failed to appear before MLAs to answer an urgent question on her attendance at an unlawful protest against the Drumcree parade but has given a commitment to do so next week.

Speaker Edwin Poots, who accused Ms O’Neill of displaying “gross contempt” for the Assembly for her no show on Monday, had relisted the oral question for Tuesday afternoon.

When the time came for the question to be called, Ms O’Neill was not in place at the dispatch box at Parliament Buildings in Belfast.

Mr Poots said Ms O’Neill had initially indicated it was her intention to attend to answer the question but she later informed him she was unable to because of “another urgent engagement”.

The Sinn Féin vice president was in Dublin on Tuesday afternoon for a meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin to discuss the Drumcree stand-off.

“I have been given an assurance that the First Minister will attend the chamber at our next sitting on Monday,” said Mr Poots.

The urgent oral question was tabled by DUP MLA Phillip Brett.

The question to the Executive Office, which is jointly led by Ms O’Neill and DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, asked the First Minister to explain how her attendance at the unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown on Sunday was in keeping with her pledge of office.

Ms O’Neill and other senior colleagues were among a large crowd that blockaded the road in the predominantly nationalist area to prevent the contentious Orange Order Drumcree parade from passing the route.

Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission adjudication body.

Police have confirmed the protest was unnotified to the commission and therefore unlawful.

Ms O’Neill defended her attendance in a personal statement to the Assembly from the back benches on Monday, but she later declined to appear before the dispatch box to answer Mr Brett’s question.

After her second no show on Tuesday, the Speaker told MLAs he would have used his powers to compel Ms O’Neill to attend if she had not given a commitment to come to the chamber next week.

While Mr Poots said he was content that resolved the matter and suggested to members that they move to the next item on the agenda, his announcement triggered a series of heated exchanges, with MLAs from across the chamber raising points of order.

DUP deputy First Minister Ms Little-Pengelly said Ms O’Neill should have prioritised her scheduled appearance at the Assembly.

“Let me be very clear – I am in this House this afternoon as deputy First Minister,” she said.

“I had turned up to do my job. The First Minister was on the road in the Garvaghy Road at the weekend, chanting, encouraging people to break the law, encouraging and riling up people, dialling up the temperature and the rhetoric.

“There is one party here that has been responsible. That is us. There is one party that has been deeply reckless, and one first minister that has been deeply reckless. She needs to come to this House and answer questions and subject herself to that scrutiny.”

Sinn Féin’s Deirdre Hargey insisted that her party colleague was not afraid to answer questions.

“She’s not afraid of any of you, so let me make that fact clear,” she said.

“While some try to use this House to inflame the situation, Michelle O’Neill is out trying to de-escalate it, and I think that will become apparent.

“And she will come to this House, and she will eyeball each and every one of you in the time ahead. And she’ll do that in a respectful way, and she is not afraid of anyone.

“She is there to de-escalate the situation, and I think others need to do the same.”

UUP leader Jon Burrows described the developments as a “pantomime”.

He noted that the Assembly had sat for only around two hours on Tuesday.

“Like the promised border poll, the First Minister has failed to arrive and turn up,” said Mr Burrows.

“This is a pantomime of the highest order and today is a typical day. If anyone was watching what was going on today, there’s been barely any business except member statements and a few other bits and pieces that actually make any difference in the lives of people in Northern Ireland.”

He added: “This is a farce, and another day is wasted, and it has to lay at the door of Sinn Féin, who at their heart cannot obey the law.”

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston urged Mr Poots to compel Ms O’Neill’s attendance.

“She’s on the run from this Assembly and has given her assurance she’ll be here at the next setting – I would take that with a pinch of salt,” he said.

SDLP member Patsy McGlone, a former deputy speaker of the Assembly, urged MLAs to “restrain themselves” and moderate their remarks.

“Because the outside world is listening and watching,” he added.

Concluding the exchanges and adjourning Assembly business for the day, Mr Poots referenced Mr McGlone’s comment.

“I think we should welcome the wise counsel of the former deputy speaker, who done his job so eloquently,” he said.

“And the First Minister will be here on Monday. Section 44 (provision in Northern Ireland Act 1998 to compel attendance) would have been used had she chosen not to give me that advice. She will be here next Monday and that is agreed. So we will move on.”

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