Ulster Unionist MLA Sandra Overend has expressed her frustration at the delay in publishing the Assembly’s Committee on Standards and Privileges report into the Iris Robinson affair and the amount of information which has been redacted.
Mrs Overend, who sits on the Standards & Privileges committee said:
“Many people will share my disquiet at the length of time it has taken to bring this report into the public domain and the fact that so much information contained within it has been held back.
“The Robinson affair damaged public confidence in politicians in Northern Ireland with the report finding that Iris Robinson broke Assembly rules by failing to register three payments including two from property developers that were used to set up the new business at the Lock Keeper’s Inn by Kirk McCambley.
“It should never have taken almost five years of investigation to get to this stage and I am also concerned that so much material has been redacted from the report at the insistence of the DUP.
“The original BBC Spotlight programme was broadcast in 2010 and the Commissioner for Standards produced a report in November 2013.
“Further delay meant that the final report was submitted to the committee in July this year and is only now being published.”