Department’s social media post on Israel trip ‘strictly non-political’ – Givan

Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan has defended asking his officials to publicise a visit he made to a school in Israel, saying it was a “strictly non-political” message.

He also said the Department of Education social media post took less than one hour of administrative time.

The DUP minister has faced criticism and calls to resign since he took part in the fact-finding trip last week with a delegation of MLAs from Northern Ireland at the invitation of the Israeli government.

This has included a protest in Belfast city centre on Saturday and outside Parliament Buildings on Monday, and an online petition signed by more than 13,000.

The Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council claimed the Department of Education’s promotion of the school visit was an “overtly political and divisive act”, and called for the post to be deleted.

Rival politicians have also questioned whether it was appropriate to visit Israel at a time when the country is facing international criticism over its military offensive in Gaza.

Mr Givan is set to face a no-confidence motion in the Assembly next week, which has been backed by People Before Profit, Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance.

In a bullish response in the Assembly on Monday, Mr Givan insisted he will “not be bullied” and stood by his actions.

Earlier, Mr Givan insisted he is a minister for all, adding he will not be silenced, cancelled or distracted from his work as Education Minister.

SDLP MLA Cara Hunter asked Mr Givan an urgent oral question in the Assembly on Monday afternoon to outline departmental resources used to promote his visit to Israel.

Mr Givan told MLAs he was formally invited by the Government of Israel and no public funds were spent. He also said none of his departmental officials participated in the trip.

He said his visit during the trip to a school in Jerusalem was “directly relevant” to his ministerial portfolio and “provided valuable insights”.

“In light of this relevance, I requested that the department issue a factual press release to share the inclusive education practice that I observed,” he said.

“This communication was strictly non-political and focused solely on the educational aspects of the visit. No departmental resources were used to publicise any political message.”

During exchanges, Mr Givan insisted that it amounted to less than one hour of administrative time by his department’s officials.

He also revealed his Permanent Secretary and senior officials carried out a review of his engagements on the visit and said they concluded a “clean bill of health” to him as minister and all civil servants that their actions were appropriate.

“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.

“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.”

Mr Givan previously complained of being “vilified”, but Sinn Fein president Mary-Lou McDonald said he is “not the victim in this”.

She described the motion of no confidence as “merely reflective of widespread public disbelief and anger at the fact that the minister made this trip”.

“Minister Givan is not a victim in this scenario,” she said.

“The victims here are tens of thousands of innocent children and women and men who have been slaughtered over the course of more than two years,” she told reporters at Stormont on Monday.

“A live genocide is under way, playing out in the most grotesque way.

“The world is witness to it and there is a positive obligation on every single human being in my view, and especially people in public office, to lead from the front an appropriate response which calls a halt to this slaughter and that does not seek in any way to give any form of cover to Netanyahu and his genocidal regime.”

Earlier, DUP leader Gavin Robinson condemned the reaction to Mr Givan as “pantomime and performative politics which does nothing for Stormont or society”.

“Paul has my full confidence, he has the confidence of our party and we will be, not only in the chamber today, responding needlessly to this nonsense, but also getting on with looking after the people of Northern Ireland,” he told media in the Long Gallery at Parliament Buildings, while Mr Givan and other party colleagues stood by him.

Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson confirmed his party will back the no-confidence motion in Mr Givan over the trip to Israel as well as other issues, including integrated education.

He said there are questions for Mr Givan in his ministerial capacity.

“To engage in that visit at such a politically sensitive time is nothing more than provocative and the minister needs to account for his judgment as to why he was part of a propaganda mission for the Israeli government,” he said.

“There are serious questions also over the civil service in terms of why the parliamentary resources were used to promote this propaganda mission. There are questions about whether and why no officials were present if Paul was there in a ministerial capacity.

“So, in order to ensure some accountability, Alliance will support the motion of no confidence in Paul Givan as, quite simply, we have no confidence in him, be it in relation to this issue, his hostile approach to integrated education, his mismanagement of his budget and his failure of children with special educational needs in our systems.”