First Minister says TUV query over private meeting notes has been 'dealt with' - as commissioner ruling imminent
The First Minister has clashed with Timothy Gaston over her department’s decision not to release “handwritten notes” of a controversial private meeting which sparked a row leading to his suspension from the Assembly.
Michelle O’Neill says a request for information about the encounter with scrutiny committee chair Paula Bradshaw – which prompted heated scenes at Stormont over a year ago – has been “dealt with” – and “everything” is on the public record.
The TUV MLA has been seeking contemporaneous notes of the meeting, after it emerged that the official minute wasn’t written up until five days later – and after media controversy.
The Executive Office (TEO) decided not to release the notes, but the TUV appealed that decision with the Information Commissioner – which is expected to rule on the matter within the next fortnight.
In October 2024 – ahead of Ms O’Neill appearing in front of the TEO committee to face questions on safeguarding scandals embroiling her party – she met with the chair Paula Bradshaw in advance to discuss aspects of how the meeting would be conducted.
That prompted Mr Gaston to call for Ms Bradshaw to step aside, and he questioned her handling of the committee. He was sanctioned this week after an investigation by the standards commissioner found he had undermined her authority, and criticised his conduct when he asked her to “breathe” during heated exchanges. It also backed the Alliance MLA’s actions during the committee.
The North Antrim MLA raised the issue about the notes as the first and deputy first ministers appeared before the same committee on Wednesday afternoon – but the Sinn Fein leader accused him of “distraction and deflection” after the standards ruling.
“Everything in relation to that meeting is well documented on the public record”, she told MLAs.
In November 2024, the News Letter asked TEO for “a copy of the minutes / notes” of the private meeting – which officials treated as a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. Internal emails also show an unnamed official stating that the First Minister’s Principal Private Secretary Carol Morrow “has asked that the case be assigned to her”.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Gaston highlighted this correspondence, and said that Carol Morrow took the unreleased “contemporaneous minute”.
Mr Gaston claimed Carol Morrow “appears to be the one that's not allowing the evidence to be released” - adding “surely that's a clear conflict of interest First Minister”.
The First Minister responded: “That's factually incorrect”. She told the committee: “We have no responsibility as ministers. Why should we? And we should never have because that will be interference”. She said the process is managed by the information unit, and allocated to the “business area” most likely to hold the information requested.
After explaining the FOI process, the First Minister told Mr Gaston: “You've put in a request for a Freedom of Information, it has been dealt with. You've got your information”. Ms O’Neill said
Mr Gaston offered to show her an email of Carol Morrow asking for the original FOI to be assigned to her. He added: “She was the one took the hand written or the contemporaneous note. She is then becoming, officially the person that says, ‘I don't want that released’, and now we're in this merry-go-round”.
The First Minister said “Actually, that’s incorrect. This is with the information officer. This has nothing to do with us. We shouldn't have a role in this”.
The official record – which has been released – was written five days after the meeting by Carol Morrow. However, despite various attempts by the TUV to secure a “handwritten” or contemporaneous note, taken at the time of the meeting, the Executive Office has declined to release it – citing exemptions in the legislation.
The matter has rumbled on in the TEO committee for over a year. In November 2024, the Alliance deputy chair Stewart Dickson said that releasing notes taken by civil servants would “create a very serious chill factor”.
But the DUP described the official minute as a “narrative” and has supported the release of the notes.
The minute shows that Michelle O’Neill and Paula Bradshaw had a “discussion” on the questions which had been submitted in advance, and on media reporting of questions that were likely to come up.
There is a recorded view that some of them are “outside of the committee’s remit” – but it does not detail whether that was the view of the first minister, the chair, or both.