Christopher Stalford: His final speech to Stormont was both a swipe at Sinn Fein’s human rights stance and an appeal to respect differences of opinion

Mr Stalford had been an MLA since 2016, during which time he sat on a total of 11 all-party groups, covering everything from attention deficit disorder to animal welfare.

He also sat on nine committees during that period, dealing with issues from standards-and-privileges to Covid-19.

At the time of his death, Mr Stalford also held the politically-neutral role of principal deputy speaker of the Assembly.

His final appearance in Stormont was exactly a week ago on Tuesday when he took up the speaker’s chair, making sure the day’s business was conducted smoothly.

But the last time he aired his own views was a day earlier, when he had weighed in on a raft of different topics including anti-Protestant discimination in the hiring of PSNI officers and the prediliction of the IRA for torturing people.

‘IT’S OK TO BE IN A MINORITY’:

The very final contribution he made was to adebate about the creation of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland.

A multi-party committee had been tasked with looking into such a bill, and last week announced it had been unable to reach an agreement on whether one should be drawn up or not, due to opposition to the idea from the DUP.

Mr Stalford argued that such a bill could become like a Northern Irish version of the US Constitution, leading to long, bitter court battles over how each line should be interpreted.

He also noted Northern Ireland already has two official bodies tasked with policing the Province’s human rights landscape (the Equality Commission and the NI Human Rights Commission).

He went on to declare himself “disappointed at the tone” of fellow MLAs who took a contrary view to his own.

“We live in a democracy; it is OK to sometimes have different views,” he said.

“There may well be a prevailing consensus; that is fine.

“If there is a prevailing consensus, that is fair enough, but it is never unacceptable to hold to a minority view, and, on these issues, evidently, we do.

“I have stated my position and made it clear that I think that we have a strong human rights framework in Northern Ireland.

“We have two bodies, established in law, that are dedicated to the protection of human rights and equality.

“We are one of the most human rights- and fairness-compliant societies in the world.

“It is important. The debate will resume in the new term, and that may present an opportunity for further discussion to see where we go with it.

“So I am not shutting the door on it, but let us not try to drag this down into rancorous acrimony, because that will not serve any useful or helpful purpose.”

CLASH WITH EX-IRA BOMBER:

During Mr Stalford’s final address to the house last Monday, he clashed with Caral Ni Chuilin, a former IRA bomber-turned-MLA.

In the debate about a bill of rights, she had told MLAs – and Mr Stalford in particular – that “this is where you are when it comes to rights: human rights do not apply”.

She continued: “We’ve had trans kids who talked about ending their life because they felt that they were not included as citizens. We’ll get them their rights.

“We have Irish language speakers who were mocked in the Assembly by your colleagues. They’ll get their rights ...

“I want to say this: the days of ‘Catholics, nationalists, gays, lesbians and human rights experts need not apply’ are gone. They are well gone. We all will apply. That is the message that the Assembly needs to send out.”

Mr Stalford replied: “I sat across from people in Belfast council whose charge sheets, had I printed them off, I would have been able to paper the city hall with ...

“There is one absolute right in law, and that is the right not to be tortured. That is an absolute right that is accepted as a universal right.

“How many people did the fellow travellers of the party opposite deny that human right to?

“So I am not going to take that from any member opposite when it comes to rights.”

In the same session, the Alliance’s Kellie Armstrong had raised the issue of ethnic minority representation in the PSNI.

On this point, Mr Stalford had interjected to say that “there was a time when the only people in the entirety of the European Union whom it was legally permissible to discriminate against in relation to employment were people who happened to come from a Protestant community background – and were applying for a job in the police”.

More from this reporter:

Click here – The last Last Post: Remembering the final soldier killed by the PIRA a quarter-century on... 23-year-old Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick

Click here – Remembering barracks bloodbath that was among the last violent spasms of the Official IRA – exactly half-a-century later

Click here – Belfast university culture spat: ‘No-one is convinced by efforts to portray the Irish language as cross-community’

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