Watch: Committee chair cuts Stormont live feed when TUV MLA raises letter of complaint against her
There have been more tense exchanges in a key Stormont scrutiny committee – which was briefly suspended when Timothy Gaston attempted to raise a letter of complaint about the chair.
The Executive Office committee is chaired by Paula Bradshaw, who faced criticism of her handling of an evidence session last week. The TUV accused her of “shielding” Sinn Fein junior minister Aisling Reilly from questioning by allowing Michelle O’Neill to answer on her behalf.
There was also criticism of the chair’s acceptance that the First Minister had answered a question which she clearly hadn’t. The Alliance MLA defended her handling of events, and pointed to time constraints. In the Assembly this week she asked Ms O’Neill to consider coming back to the committee to answer more questions on the McMonagle scandal.
On Wednesday, Mr Gaston said: “Last week you read out correspondence at this stage [in proceedings] and set a precedent. And in the correspondence this week, there has been a letter sent to the clerk. It’s about yourself chair”. Paula Bradshaw interjected to say “Can we put this in private session because I’m going to stop you right there”.
An official then shuffled past MLAs, apparently to cut the camera feed, shutting proceedings off from the public. Later in the meeting, the Alliance MLA raised the issue of a complaint that had been received – saying the complainant had been advised to go to the standards commissioner.
Before this issue arose, Mr Gaston had also raised a statement issued to the BBC’s Nolan Show last week. Ms Bradshaw interjected at the start saying “No no no. Chairperson’s business is for me to bring”. Mr Gaston suggested it could be brought under ‘matters arsing’, which the chair accepted.
The TUV MLA said: “Last Friday on the Nolan Show, the presenter read out a statement which said… it was a press release that had come from yourself”. Ms Bradshaw said that it came from her party, but not from the committee. Mr Gaston said on the programme it had appeared it was issued on behalf of the committee in the way it was presented – and asked for a clarification to the BBC. SF’s Emma Sheerin said “Your head would be better if you don’t listen to that stuff”.