Education Minister Paul Givan ignored his official's advice over meeting with Loyalist group, Assembly told
Education Minister Paul Givan went against the advice of a department official when he met a group linked to loyalist paramilitaries, MLAs have heard.
He told the Assembly that the meeting with the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) was not the only occasion when he met a group or individual after being advised not to.
Mr Givan was criticised by other political parties for meeting with the LCC in September.
The LCC is an umbrella group which represents the Ulster Volunteer Force, the Ulster Defence Association and the Red Hand Commando.
After the meeting, the LCC said it had advised Mr Givan that a proposal to build an Irish language school in east Belfast should be stopped.
Mr Givan said the meeting was to discuss educational underachievement in loyalist areas.
A freedom of information request showed that a Department of Education official had given advice to Mr Givan that he should decline the meeting with the LCC.
SDLP MLA Cara Hunter raised the issue during ministerial question time at the Northern Ireland Assembly.
She said: “Would it be typical for a minister to ignore advice from his department and, if so, is this something he does often?”
Mr Givan responded: “There have been occasions where I have been recommended not to meet with a particular individual or group and I have met.
“So this isn’t the one occasion where that has occurred.”
Ms Hunter said: “I think it is crystal clear that young people reject paramilitary activities in their communities and young people listening today will be disappointed you met with this group.”
She also asked the minister if he could name “any concrete outcomes from this meeting that will contribute to the betterment of our education here in Northern Ireland”.
In reply, Mr Givan accused the SDLP of “campaigning to release mass-murders from our jails” in the past, complaining that they now “lecture me about who I should and shouldn’t meet.”
“I will meet with those who want to move our society forward,” he said.
“Those who don’t, I very much appeal to the PSNI and our security forces, get the evidence, put them behind bars and I will campaign to keep them behind bars, unlike the member and her party who embraced paramilitaries and let them out of jail.”