Israel trip given 'clean bill of health', minister says

Education Minister Paul Givan has defended using departmental resources to share images of his visit to a school in Jerusalem.

Givan said after a Stormont review, it found there was "no political content" in a press release from the Department of Education (DoE) and the trip had been given "a clean bill of health".

It comes as a no confidence motion in his role as minister is expected to be tabled at Stormont over a six-day trip to Israel.

The motion has been submitted by Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit (PBP) and is being backed by Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Alliance.

The motion is expected to receive the 30 signatures required to reach the floor of the Northern Ireland Assembly and push it to a vote.

It will be next week, at the earliest, before a vote can take place, but the motion is already destined to fail as it requires cross-community support from unionists and nationalists.

There were robust exchanges as the DUP minister responded to questions regarding the trip in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Givan said permanent secretary Ronnie Armour and other senior officials had "carried out a review of my engagements on this visit".

The minister 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".

Givan said his private office had liaised with the trip's organisers to confirm logistics.

"This support was minimal, administrative in nature, and in total it is estimated to have amounted to less than one hour of Civil Service time," he said.

The minister added: "My permanent secretary reviewed the press release published by the department pertaining to the school visit, and he concluded that it had no political content, was directly related to my portfolio and therefore approved my request."

Speaking to BBC's The Nolan Show on Monday, Givan said the trip "came at no cost to the tax payer, at all".

The DUP minister was among a number of local unionists 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.

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.

Sinn Féin assembly member Pat Sheehan, deputy chair of the education committee, criticised Israel's actions in Gaza.

Speaking in the assembly, he questioned "why can't this minister accept the truth rather than continue to peddle the propaganda of a genocidal regime".

In response, Givan said Sheehan had in the past "met with Hamas himself".

"So don't give me the crocodile tears when you're pictured with and supporting Hamas terrorists," he added.

Gerry Carroll from People Before Profit told the minister there had been "widespread opposition to your recent whitewashing propaganda trip".

He said the visit to Israel was "political from start, middle to end" and commended demonstrators who have called for the minister's resignation.

Cara Hunter of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) accused the minister of "laughing like a Disney villain" during the assembly session.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) assembly member Steve Aiken, who also took part in the Israel trip, said the school they visited was "led by Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders".

He said they had to have a meeting "in what was a bomb shelter".

The Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC) said the department "should be politically neutral" and called for promotion of his visit to be removed from its sites.

On Saturday, PBP held a rally against the minister outside Belfast City Hall.

It was attended by teachers, Gaza solidarity supporters, community groups and some politicians.

However, Givan denied there was "any commentary of a political nature in relation to Israel" in the social media posts.

Speaking earlier, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Paul Givan was "not a victim in this scenario".

She said a no-confidence motion was "merely reflecting widespread public disbelief and anger" over the DUP minister's trip to Israel.

The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) party have said they plan to join Givan's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in voting against it.

Even if it were to pass, the motion has no power to remove a DUP minister from office without the support of its leader, Gavin Robinson, who has said Givan is "going nowhere".

Speaking to reporters at Stormont, he said the education minister "has my full confidence".

"Sadly, Sinn Féin have been led by the nose by Gerry Carroll. They are now getting engaged in a needless discussion which arises from nothing more than a tweet."

Alliance Deputy Leader Eóin Tennyson confirmed his party would support a motion of no confidence.

He said the visit "at such a politically sensitive time is nothing more than provocative coat trailing".

Earlier, SDLP leader Claire Hanna said it was "entirely appropriate" that assembly members have the opportunity to hold the education minister to account and to express their constituents' "deeply held concerns".

She said a number of teachers who had contacted her "struggled to have confidence in somebody who is endorsing so freely a system that has annihilated the education system and the educational opportunity for a generation of Palestinian kids".

It is a big step to propose and support a motion of no confidence in a Stormont minister, even though it is destined to fail.

Unlike in most other government institutions, ministers do not need the support of the majority of Northern Ireland Assembly members to stay in office.

All they need is their own party to stand by them.

But such motions of confidence are potentially damaging for relations and can hamper progress around the executive table at a time when there are so many big decisions to be made.

Don't be surprised to see more ministerial showdowns in the months ahead as we edge ever closer to the next assembly election.

Because, in truth, they play well with the respective political bases.