Long holiday? Alliance and justice department silent on Naomi Long's term time whereabouts

It comes amid calls from the DUP for the justice minister to appear before the Assembly to address a series of killings of women and girls in Northern Ireland in recent weeks.

The News Letter understands that Mrs Long’s trip has been planned for a number of weeks, and there is a belief within her own party that the date of the party’s deputy leadership election was moved to facilitate it.

On Tuesday morning the DUP questioned the minister’s absence from the Stormont chamber amid a series of killings of women. The issue was raised by Deborah Erskine after Naomi Long didn’t appear in the chamber on Monday – and was replaced by a party colleague. The Alliance leader was last in the chamber last Tuesday, according to her department.

Fermanagh MLA Mrs Erskine said that the Alliance leader had “addressed meetings by video message in recent days” – and asked the Speaker Edwin Poots if he was aware when the minister will be available again.

Mr Poots said he had “no knowledge of what the minister’s functions are at the moment” – saying it was an issue for her or the Department of Justice to explain to the Assembly.

On Monday, the Alliance Minister Andrew Muir, who runs the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, took questions on behalf of the justice minister in the Assembly.

The same day, the News Letter had asked the department where the minister is, but a spokesperson did not address the question.

They said the minister appeared in the NI Assembly on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th October.

The spokesperson added: “In relation to the terrible murders of women in recent weeks the Minister issued a statement to the BBC for the Good Morning Ulster programme on Wednesday 9th and a statement to the Sunday Times on Friday 11th”.

In that statement Naomi Long said: “Every life lost in this way is a tragedy. We are all, rightly, deeply concerned at the increase in incidents of violence against women in recent times: we must all do everything in our power to challenge and change the attitudes and behaviours which treat women’s lives as though they are expendable. There must be a collective effort from across society and government to address these issues.”

It is understood that the Alliance Party’s deputy leadership vote was due to be held on the 10th October, but was then moved. The selection happened on a Tuesday night – the 8th October – instead. That was also the last day that the justice minister had appeared in the Assembly, according to officials.

Why the minister chose to take a holiday during the period she is accountable to MLAs in the chamber has not been explained.

Stormont is about to go into recess for Halloween from 26 October to 3 November. There will also be no sitting of the Assembly between 14 December and 13 January 2025.

Over the summer, it was closed from 6 July to 9 September.

On Monday, Andrew Muir told the Assembly that Northern Ireland can be a “dangerous place for women”.

He was answering an urgent question in the Assembly following the killing of four women in the province in six weeks.

DUP MLA Joanne Bunting tabled the question asking if the Justice Minister Naomi Long has any plans to update her department’s domestic and sexual abuse strategy following the recent spate of deaths.

The agriculture minister offered condolences to the families of the four women who died in recent weeks – Mary Ward, Rachel Simpson, Sophie Watson and Montserrat Martorell. He said “The aim of the new strategy is to ensure that domestic and sexual abuse is not tolerated in Northern Ireland and that everyone can be safe and free from fear.”

Ms Bunting said she was disappointed that the Justice Minister was not in the chamber to answer the urgent question.

The News Letter asked the DoJ if it disputed that the minister is on holiday abroad – and asked how is it appropriate for a minister to go abroad during a period where they should be accountable to the Assembly. There was no response.

The Alliance Party was asked about its leader’s whereabouts, and whether it disputed that the date of the deputy leadership election had been moved to facilitate the leader’s holiday. There was no response.