Stormont parties demand 'full transparency' over DUP safeguarding

Political parties at Stormont have called for "full transparency" from the DUP around its safeguarding processes in the wake of Jeffrey Donaldson's conviction for child sex offences.

The former DUP leader was convicted last week of 18 counts of sex abuse, including one count of rape, committed against two women when they were children.

A BBC Spotlight investigation has since revealed that two senior DUP members were made aware of different allegations against Donaldson five years ago, when a young woman said she had been "exploited" by him.

On Friday, the DUP said it was in the process of commissioning an independent review into the issues.

Sinn Féin has said it intends to submit questions to the assembly on Monday, in relation to the claims aired on the BBC.

It is the last scheduled week of assembly business before summer recess.

Sinn Féin assembly member (MLA) Deirdre Hargey said the programme raised "significant questions" around safeguarding within the DUP.

"Senior members, past and present, within the DUP have made public commentary which has further damaged public confidence," she added.

"Sinn Féin will be submitting questions in the assembly on Monday as the public needs full transparency and accountability."

Alliance leader Naomi Long said there must be a "fully independent and external" investigation, in order to restore public confidence.

"The allegations that senior figures within the DUP, and others in positions of trust, were aware of serious concerns about Jeffrey Donaldson before he became party leader are profoundly serious," said Long.

"There must be full transparency around who knew what and when, what action was taken, and whether appropriate safeguarding procedures were followed.

"Public confidence cannot be restored through internal party processes alone. Only a genuinely independent investigation can establish the full facts."

Wallace Thompson, a founding member of the DUP, said he thinks Ian Paisley would be turning in his grave at the revelations about the "immoral" life that Donaldson lived.

"For a party founded upon high moral standards, the challenge was all the greater that you make sure you maintain those high moral standards," he said.

"Dr Paisley would be turning in his grave at what is happening now because it was founded on strong moral principles."

The former DUP special advisor and evangelical Protestant added that it will be a "monumental task" for the party to deal with the fallout.

"I must stress I have no axe to grind with the party at all. But I do believe in all honesty that the party is in crisis," he told BBC's Good Morning Ulster radio programme.

"I hope they do manage to sort it out but it is going to be very difficult, it is almost like a nuclear explosion in political terms."

BBC Spotlight reported that not long before Donaldson became DUP leader in 2021, the then-North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said he was approached by a young woman who said she had been exploited by Donaldson and that he should not be allowed to lead the party.

Paisley said the woman did not want to make a formal complaint but he said he told Edwin Poots, when he was elected leader.

Paisley described her as a "victim" in a text to another politician during the DUP leadership contest between Donaldson and Poots in 2021.

In response, Poots told Spotlight: "We observed at all times the wishes of the young woman."

Long has called on Poots, now the Speaker in the Northern Ireland Assembly, to "provide a full account" of what he knew.

"As holder of one of the highest political offices in Northern Ireland, in which the public and Assembly must have full confidence, it's imperative that Edwin Poots provides a full account of his knowledge of these matters."

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said the wave of revelations in the wake of the conviction had left the public "shocked, disgusted and must mark a watershed moment in Northern Ireland politics".

"Media reporting of widespread knowledge of Donaldson's private life exposes nauseating hypocrisy and a prioritising of electoral advantage over safeguarding and accountability.

"This raises profound questions about the motivations behind decisions that delayed reforms which could have made a real difference to people's lives."

The DUP said it acted swiftly when Donaldson was first charged in 2024 and that its current leadership are deeply concerned by allegations that have surfaced in recent days.

"As a party we believe in the rule of law and that criminal proceedings must take their full course. Justice has been served with the guilty verdicts against him," a spokesperson said.

The party leader Gavin Robinson, deputy leader Michelle McIlveen and party chairman are deeply concerned by allegations that have surfaced in recent days relating to inappropriate behaviour on behalf of Jeffrey Donaldson, and the indication that some may have had knowledge of inappropriate behaviour but which was never reported to the party officers."

They added further details about the independent review "will be announced shortly".

The former Ulster Unionist Party leader, Doug Beattie, told Good Morning Ulster that the police ombudsman "needs to investigate" what intelligence the PSNI had on Donaldson a year prior to his arrest in 2024 and whether any of it was "actionable".

The Spotlight programme found that a police detective and a child safeguarding expert identified Donaldson after speaking to the victim, known in the sex abuse trial as Complainant A.

A former senior police officer told Spotlight that such suspicions should have been passed to the chief constable.

Beattie said: "Intelligence is not evidence, but we need to know that the intelligence wasn't actionable.

"The other thing I'm really concerned about is if they had intelligence, who else did they pass it onto?"

He added that Donaldson's behaviour that was reported in the Spotlight programme left him "open to forces from other governments using blackmail against him".

He wants the ombudsman to investigate the PSNI about "what they knew" about Donaldson before his arrest.

In a statement the police ombudsman said it is "mindful that legal proceedings are ongoing".

"However, she will consider correspondence from Doug Beattie MLA and may seek information from the PSNI in order to carry out an initial assessment."

The PSNI have said it has "conducted a thorough investigation into non-recent sexual abuse allegations. As legal proceedings are ongoing, we will not be making any comment".

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister said the DUP's independent review must be a "thoroughgoing, warts-and-all investigation" in the wake of Jeffrey Donaldson's conviction.

He said there was a "low level of confidence" in previous internal DUP reviews into other matters and those concerns must be "irrefutably put out of the question".

"They need to act in such a way that that is irrefutably put out of the question...in which no one but no one is exempt from exposure and resulting action."

Allister also said there were questions for the Stormont assembly speaker Edwin Poots over his knowledge of separate allegations against Donaldson five years ago, when a young woman said she had been "exploited" by him.

"I think it is important that the speaker, not least because of his position, but because of the fact that it's now on the record that he was given knowledge, he needs to explain what he did with that knowledge, and that is a searching question for him and for his party," he said.