Education minister facing no confidence vote over Israel visit

Northern Ireland's Education Minister Paul Givan is facing a no confidence motion at Stormont over his recent visit to Israel.

It was proposed by Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit and is being backed by Sinn Féin, Alliance and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

However, the move will fail as it requires cross-community support from unionists and nationalists in the assembly.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) have already said they would not back the motion and branded it "performative".

Parties supporting the motion said the minister should not have used departmental resources to share images of his visit to a school in Jerusalem.

Teaching unions also criticised the move and called for a press release on the issue to be removed from the department's website.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said Givan had "yuked it up" in response to criticism of his trip.

Speaking at Stormont ahead of the motion, she said it was appropriate for MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) to "have the opportunity to express their constituents' moral revulsion".

Hanna said her party, which is the official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly, was separately tabling a motion calling for reforms to ministerial accountability mechanisms.

"We are calling on all parties to read the room and to realise how disconnected Stormont is for the average person, and the desperate need to reform this assembly, how it delivers and how it connects with people," she added.

People Before Profit assembly member Gerry Carroll proposed the no-confidence motion.

He claimed while Givan was in Israel, "he failed to uphold the pledge of office, failed to comply with the ministerial code of conduct and he has made deeply offensive and unfounded accusations of antisemitism because he is in a tailspin," he told the assembly.

Sinn Féin assembly member Declan Kearney claimed Paul Givan in his trip to Israel was "acting as a prop" for a "propaganda stunt".

"You do not own the Department of Education. It is the property of our peace settlement and the Good Friday Agreement," he added.

He said Givan had "not one ounce of humility, compassion or regret for the people of Gaza, or the anger that you have provoked".

DUP leader Gavin Robinson described the no-confidence vote as "performative" and said that "nothing is going to change".

He said he had "full confidence" in Givan and all the party's ministers in the Northern Ireland Executive.

"I look forward to the end of today and the ability for the Northern Ireland Assembly to get back to focusing on the issues that matter for the people of Northern Ireland," he added.

Givan said he would give a "very clear account of all of my activities and why nothing here was wrong".

He said "Gerry Carroll's coalition" had shown "double standards" in their approach to his trip to Israel compared to other issues.

The exclusion motion that assembly members will be asked to endorse states that the "minister of education no longer enjoys the confidence of the assembly, because of his failure to observe… the Pledge of Office, relating to his duty to uphold and support the rule of law; and his failure to observe paragraph (g) relating to his duty to comply with the Ministerial Code of Conduct; and that he should be excluded from holding office as a minister or junior minister for a period of 12 months".

Independent unionist Claire Sugden is the only unionist representative in the assembly to confirm that she will vote for the motion.

Monday is likely to see a repeat of the robust exchanges last week when Givan faced initial questions from other parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly about the trip.

He said his department's permanent secretary Ronnie Armour and other senior officials had carried out a review of his engagements on the visit.

Givan said they "concluded that review and gave a clean bill of health, not just to me as minister but to every civil servant in my department that their actions were entirely appropriate".

On Sunday, Sinn Féin assembly member Pat Sheehan, the deputy chair of the education committee, criticised Israel's actions in Gaza and called for the minister to resign.

Stormont's education committee has been looking into the matter and asked the department's permanent secretary to appear to give evidence.

Speaking to BBC's The Nolan Show last week, Givan said the trip "came at no cost to the taxpayer, at all".

The DUP minister was among a number of unionist politicians who took part in the six-day trip, which was organised by the Israeli government.

Others included DUP MP Sammy Wilson, Steve Aiken from the UUP and TUV councillor Ron McDowell.

During the trip, they received a briefing from Israel's foreign ministry; visited a Holocaust memorial; met victims of Hamas; and toured Ofek School in Jerusalem.

Brendan Hughes, BBC News NI political reporter

Education Minister Paul Givan's trip to Israel cost its government almost £4,000, according to his updated Stormont register of interests.

His flights, accommodation, food and transport were worth a total of £3,810 and were paid for by the Israeli embassy in London.

In his register of interests, Givan said the trip was a "fact-finding tour" and involved "visiting Israeli Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze and others".

He added he was "briefed by eyewitnesses to the murderous terrorist attacks by Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis".

The same costs and details were declared on the register by his DUP colleague David Brooks and Ulster Unionist assembly member Steve Aiken, who were also on the trip.

On 7 October 2023, about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were abducted during a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

Israel then launched a military campaign in Gaza during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.

In September, the world's leading association of genocide scholars declared that genocide was taking place in Gaza, but Israel continues to reject that claim.