MLAs to debate no-confidence motion in DUP minister Paul Givan over his recent trip to Israel

The motion seeks to remove Mr Givan from post, and exclude him from holding office as a minister or junior minister for a 12 months.

However, it will not secure the required cross-community support, as all three unionist parties have already said that they will oppose it. Alliance will join with nationalists in calling for the DUP man’s removal.

Political opponents have focused on the fact the Department of Education promoted a visit to a school in Jerusalem, branding the post political – something rejected by the department and the minister.

Mr Givan’s trip to Israel was debated at Stormont last Monday – during which he said that senior officials had reviewed the conduct of of himself and departmental staff over the matter, and that all rules had been followed.

The DUP minister said that Sinn Fein “need to get the message very clearly” that the unionist people of Northern Ireland and his party had put him into office, and he will “never be dictated to” by the republican party.

Party leader Gavin Robinson accused Sinn Fein of having been “led by the nose by Gerry Carroll”.

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said today’s motion, brought by left wing West Belfast MLA Gerry Carroll is about politics, “not about justice, principle, or integrity”.

The exclusion motion accuses the education minister of a “failure to observe” parts of the ministerial Pledge of Office, “relating to his duty to uphold and support the rule of law” – including an alleged failure relating to “his duty to comply with the Ministerial Code of Conduct”.

But Mr Gaston – whose party was also represented on the Israel trip – says the rules exist for exceptional circumstances, “where a minister has demonstrably breached the law or the solemn Pledge of Office. That determination must rest on evidence, not outrage – on due process”.

The North Antrim MLA says that the issue should have been referred instead to the Assembly Commissioner for Standards, which he says was designed “to remove partisanship” from any judgment.

“Yet the proposers of this motion have bypassed it entirely. No investigation. No report. No findings. Just accusation.

“If the rule of law truly mattered to those who tabled this motion, they would have allowed the Commissioner to examine the facts before seeking to exclude a Minister from office”, Mr Gaston is expected to tell the Assembly.

In last week’s debate, Alliance deputy leader Eoin Tennyson said his party has been consistent in its condemnation of Hamas terrorism “and of the genocide unfolding under the Israeli government”.

He asked whether Mr Givan was there in a party political capacity or as a minister, “in which case you've potentially breached the functioning of government act by not having officials there at that engagement with you”.

The education minster said the issue “has been reviewed by my permanent secretary and senior officials, and they have found that I and every official in the department have acted entirely appropriately when it comes to this visit”.

With regard to the position of the Alliance leader and justice minister Naomi Long, Mr Givan said MLAs had set “a very low bar” for no confidence motions – adding “be careful what you wish for”.