Education Minister: I plan to stop terrorists with serious criminal convictions serving on the education board

Most people will be aware that a recent political appointment by Sinn Fein to the Board of the Education Authority (EA) has caused considerable upset and consternation across the political and religious spectrum in Northern Ireland.

Paul Kavanagh was sentenced to five life terms for his role in blowing up the Chelsea Barracks in 1981.

This terrorist act resulted in the death of two civilians, John Breslin, 18, and Nora Field, 59; nearly 40 soldiers were injured in various ways.

Many within society have been shocked by this extremely controversial appointment and understandably victim’s campaigners have been particularly aggrieved.

Ann Travers, whose sister Mary was murdered by the IRA leaving her chapel in in 1984, has voiced clear opposition to the appointment and rightly questioned whether Mr Kavanagh is an appropriate role model for our young people.

Kenny Donaldson, a spokesman for Innocent Victims United said this week: “This is not the calibre of appointment that Northern Ireland needs within the Education fraternity”.

I take the recent political appointment of Mr Kavanagh by Sinn Fein as an extremely serious matter.

There is no doubt in my mind that his nomination to the EA Board will not only reignite the pain caused by this man on his victims and their families but also a wide range of victim’s groups in Northern Ireland have unambiguously voiced their real concerns regarding this matter.

The first minister, Arlene Foster, has personally spoken to John Radley, who was one of Mr Kavanagh’s victims, and he expressed his utter disbelief at Mr Kavanagh’s appointment to the board, whose responsibility is the education of our young people.

• Ann Travers backs Peter Weir’s terror ban proposal

The wider issue this has brought into focus is the lack of provision within the current legislation on the eligibility of those, convicted of serious criminal offences, to serve as members of the EA.

This week I have thoroughly researched this problem and my conclusion is that to alter the status quo would require legislative change.

I am wholly convinced that this is the right thing to do and therefore, under the ministerial code, I will next week submit to the executive proposals to alter the law in this regard and will seek executive colleagues support to proceed in this manner.

My proposal will be to bring forward legislation to amend Schedule 1 Section 2 of the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 to effectively disbar membership of the EA Board to anyone who has a serious criminal conviction.

There were many innocent victims during ‘The Troubles’, Protestant and Catholic, unionist and nationalist.

Many families still grieve and all remember the hurt and pain that such significant loss has caused them, regardless of the years passing by.

We must ensure that these families are not re-traumatised by appointments such as these and I will not shy away from doing everything in my power to prevent this.

• Peter Weir MLA is education minister

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor