Stormont has stooped to a new low over Assembly ban after 'invalidating' breathe comment - Allister
The Northern Ireland Assembly has “stooped to a new low” over a report reprimanding an MLA after he told Paula Bradshaw to “breathe” and challenged her authority during a meeting of the Executive Office committee, the TUV leader has said.
Timothy Gaston was found to have breached the Assembly Members’ Code of Conduct over his behaviour towards the Alliance committee chair during a 2024 debate marred by rows and confusion over what MLAs could ask the first minister.
The standards commissioner’s report found that the “directive to ‘breathe’ can reasonably be perceived as dismissive or invalidating” and the standards committee recommended a two-day exclusion from the chamber.
In October 2024, Michelle O’Neill had faced questions from MLAs on the committee chaired by Ms Bradshaw about safeguarding scandals embroiling her party. But she refused to answer questions she deemed outside the scrutiny body’s remit.
The report also found Mr Gaston breached rule 13, with his conduct amounting to “improper interference with the performance of the Assembly’s functions”.
TUV leader Jim Allister said the commissioner’s ruling sanctioning Mr Gaston – after having rejected his complaint about Ms Bradshaw’s handling of the committee – shows the assembly has “stooped to a new low”, adding it was “absurd beyond words”.
The North Antrim MP also said that legal action has not been ruled out – and claimed there is a “virtual political witch hunt” against Mr Gaston.
Speaking ahead of MLAs deliberating on the report, he said: “It frankly demeans this assembly by arriving at the conclusion that if someone says something which might have been ill judged but certainly was not unreasonable, and certainly was not a personal attack, that that person and their constituents should be robbed of their services for two sitting days of the assembly.
“This assembly has always struggled with scrutiny, it has always struggled with being challenged … Timothy Gaston is here to be that voice of challenge, he has been most effective, and the more effective he has been, the greater the determination to try and silence him.”