Lyons says Stormont scrutiny ‘lacking’ after MLAs accuse him of deflection

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has claimed the body overseeing his department “isn’t a proper scrutiny committee” as MLAs clashed during a Stormont meeting.

In heated exchanges on Thursday, Sinn Fein MLA and chairman of the Communities Committee, Colm Gildernew, said Mr Lyons had committed a “failure of leadership” and has tried to “deflect and distract” criticism of his performance.

Mr Lyons was investigated over a Facebook post he published in June 2025 after immigrant families were forced to flee their homes during racially motivated riots.

In a report published last week former independent Assembly commissioner for standards Melissa McCullough found that Mr Lyons’ actions had the potential of “heightening tensions and exacerbating an already contentious situation”.

The DUP minister has rejected the report, and his party leader Gavin Robinson insisted the findings were “totally irrational”.

In a fiery exchange on Thursday, Mr Gildernew opened his remarks to the minister by highlighting that the committee has previously taken a vote of no confidence in him.

“You minister have, it would appear, in Trumpian fashion, decided rather than engage with the substance of that report you sought to deflect and distract,” he said.

“What I would like to know, minister, is do you simply not care whether the public have confidence in you to discharge your role?”

Mr Lyons replied: “You’ve jumped in here on this and this is your hour, you have an hour with me and if you want to go down that route I’m happy to, I have nothing to hide.”

He added: “We can go over this time and time again but I think that your statement highlights yet again, just how often you get it wrong.

“You say that I have not engaged in the content of this. Of course I have. You clearly have not read the report.

“You clearly have not read my response to it, because if you had done that you would recognise that I have engaged with all of the points.”

Mr Gildernew said My Lyons had “failed to address the central point of a failure of leadership” and failed “to stand with victims in their time of need”.

“You’re right, this is our hour, and I am hoping to get to many other things, but I’ll say this, minister, is certainly not your finest hour,” he said.

The communities minister then offered to “go through the report” and Mr Gildernew raised that the committee “has to go through a range of issues”.

Mr Lyons said: “You criticise me for not going through point by point, not addressing them, and then whenever I offer to do that, you say, ‘oh no, no, let’s move on’ and use your silly language about Trumpian tactics.”

He added: “You’re saying you want to talk about my performance as a minister, it’s a bit rich, I have asked you a question as chair of this committee and your failure in this role.

“This has not been, under your leadership, a proper scrutiny committee.”

Sinn Fein MLA and deputy chairwoman of the committee Cathy Mason claimed that when the group tries to scrutinise the minister they get “bluster and deflection”, before raising the Irish language.

She said: “You have removed bilingual signage from your department, a clear attempt to try and make Irish language invisible.

“There’s consistent funding for bands for Ulster-Scots’ agency through the US250, all vanity projects in my eyes, and you’re blatantly blocking new funding for Irish language.”

She added: “You failed to publish an Irish language strategy, maybe that is your strategy.

“Minister, at what point does this stop being a coincidence and start being sectarian?”

USA250 provides funding to organisations to recognise contributions made by people of Ulster-Scots heritage to the founding of the US on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Mr Lyons said “I wish that we did have effective scrutiny but this isn’t a proper scrutiny committee.”

He added: “I think that you have been outrageously offensive by speaking about the US250 and the Ulster Scots as vanity projects.”

When Ms Mason asked “where the balance” is in the USA250 scheme, Mr Lyons said “you tell me about the balance you’d like to see”, and Ms Mason responded “I’m asking the questions, not you”.

Mr Lyons then said: “You come here and you think you’re part of the scrutiny committee, but you ask questions, but you never bring an alternative.

“It’s actually part of your job, Deputy Chairperson.”

Ms Mason concluded: “My view is you’re a minister who doesn’t do GAA, doesn’t do housing, doesn’t do Irish language and doesn’t do LGBTQ equality.”

To which the communities minister replied: “Doesn’t do housing, are you for real?”

Later in the meeting DUP MLA Maurice Bradley highlighted that “the motion of no confidence is not unanimous within this committee.

He told Mr Lyons: “You do have support within this committee and that needs to be pointed out.”