First Minister Michelle O’Neill walked out of an Assembly scrutiny committee hearing on Wednesday after heated exchanges with unionist MLAs.
O’Neill had told members she needed to leave by 3pm, indicating she was due at a police interview in central Belfast about her participation in a protest on the Garvaghy Road last month. The protest was alleged to have been unlawful. Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly offered to remain for further questions but was told that protocol did not allow it.
During the hearing, O’Neill threatened legal action if DUP MLA Phillip Brett repeated outside the committee a claim about Sinn Féin’s handling of past sexual abuse cases. TUV MLA Timothy Gaston also challenged her over the protest against a planned Drumcree Orange Order parade, arguing that she should no longer be First Minister. O’Neill said the committee could not decide whether her actions were unlawful.
Little-Pengelly said her working relationship with O’Neill had been fractured by the parade dispute. She also faced questions from Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín about her party’s handling of the Jeffrey Donaldson sex abuse case.
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