DUP minister Paul Givan ‘did not breach ministerial code’ over Israel trip
DUP minister Paul Givan has been found to have not broken the ministerial code on a trip to Israel last year.
The education minister faced criticism and calls to resign following the fact-finding visit as part of a delegation from Northern Ireland at the invitation of the Israeli government in October 2025.
Mr Givan said he did not attend in a ministerial capacity, but as an MLA along with other unionist MLAs.
However, he was criticised for going to a school in greater Jerusalem during the trip.
The independent Assembly Commissioner for Standards, Stephen Wright, received seven complaints – five of which were deemed inadmissible.
His investigation began in February, with a report sent to the Assembly’s Committee on Standards in April.
Mr Wright found there was no indication that the invitation had been to Mr Givan as a minister, no prior arrangements for the visit to have a specific educational aspect, costs were covered by the Israeli Embassy and the trip was properly declared on the Register of Member’s Interests.
He stated he was satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, the respondent’s conduct in participating in the delegation to Israel and visiting the school did not breach any aspect of the code.
At a committee meeting on April 29, the committee considered that some issues had not been addressed and wished to assure itself that a full and thorough investigation had been completed before publishing the outcome of the complaints case.
The commissioner gave a second report to the committee in September, reaffirming he had found no breaches of the code.
In a statement on Friday, committee deputy chair Connie Egan said: “While the committee has no adjudication role in relation to ministerial complaints, it has a duty, under Standing Order 69A, to consider any investigation report by the Commissioner, including reports on ministerial complaints, and to publish such reports on behalf of the Assembly.
“The committee has therefore fulfilled its role in that regard.”
Mr Givan welcomed the publishing of the report, and claimed there had been an “attempted political lynching”.
“As is evident from his detailed findings, the commissioner found no breaches of the ministerial code of conduct in this case,” he said.
“The commissioner’s report carefully examines every aspect of the trip and exposes the falsehoods at the heart of the motion that was tabled.”
He went on to claim: “In a rush to judgment by nationalist MLAs and the Alliance Party, all objectivity was set aside and instead they opted for an attempted political lynching.
“This is in stark contrast to the considered report of the Standards Commissioner.”