Witness Invited Back to Stormont Committee Over Abusive Language
A witness who directed abusive language at a Northern Ireland Assembly member during a Stormont committee meeting has been invited to return to reflect on her remarks.
Fidelma Fearon, representing Minority Ethnic Support Armagh, was heard using offensive language to describe Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) Assembly member Timothy Gaston after providing her evidence to the Executive Committee last week.
Gaston, who participated in the meeting remotely, challenged Fearon about her comments at the time, but the evidence session was subsequently concluded.
During a committee meeting on Wednesday, members were informed that Fearon's employers had submitted a letter of apology regarding the incident.
Warning: This story contains offensive language
The committee agreed that the language used was unacceptable and fell "below the level of respect to its members."
Gaston described the "personal abuse" directed at him as having "crossed the line" and stated he did not accept the apology letter as it was not personally signed by Fearon.
Details of the Incident
The confrontation between Gaston and Fearon occurred during a committee meeting on Wednesday, 27 May.
The hearing, which focused on race relations, featured a disagreement between the two over their perspectives on violence that took place in Ballymena the previous year.
After the chair brought the session to a close, Fearon was overheard via her microphone saying:
"It's lucky I didn't get stuck into the bastard properly."
Gaston then reactivated his camera and responded:
"Fidelma, if you want to carry this on - because I can hear every word that you're saying."
Committee Response and Decisions
Earlier in the meeting, DUP Assembly member Phillip Brett, who also rejected the apology letter, stated that while people are entitled to different views,
"they are not entitled to use swear words to attack democratically elected members of the committee."
Other committee members noted that they had not heard the remarks during the meeting but had since reviewed the recording.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Carál Ní Chuilín commented that had she heard the remarks at the time,
"I would have challenged her but I didn't hear the comment."
The committee chair, Alliance Assembly member Paula Bradshaw, described the
"abusive language was inappropriate."
The DUP's Phillip Brett proposed inviting Fearon back before the committee to apologise, but Ní Chuilín opposed this, calling it
"over the top."
Despite this, the other committee members agreed to invite Fearon back to reflect on her comments.
Ní Chuilín also raised concerns about the
"aggression" from some committee members towards witnesses,adding,
"This committee is getting the name of being toxic and why would anyone want to go in front of it."
Minority Ethnic Support Armagh declined to comment when contacted regarding the incident.
