{"id":614342,"date":"2026-09-04T14:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614342\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T14:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T14:38:15","slug":"stormont-review-receives-no-reports-of-inappropriate-behaviour-by-jeffrey-donaldson-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/614342\/","title":{"rendered":"Stormont review receives no reports of inappropriate behaviour by Jeffrey Donaldson \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

No reports of inappropriate behaviour by former DUP<\/a> leader Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a> were received by a review team investigating his conduct at the Northern Ireland Assembly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The inquiry was commissioned by the Assembly in July, a month after Donaldson was convicted of 18 sex offences<\/a>, including one count of rape, committed against two women when they were children.<\/p>\n

The Assembly on Friday confirmed \u201cno matter has arisen within the scope of the review requiring further investigation, referral to the PSNI<\/a>, or referral to another statutory agency\u201d.<\/p>\n

It cautioned, however, that the conclusion is \u201cnecessarily limited\u201d.<\/p>\n

An absence of reports or relevant records \u201cdoes not determine that no incidents occurred\u201d, an Assembly spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that, within the scope and methodology of the review, none were reported to the review and no relevant information was identified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donaldson was an MLA from 2003 to 2010 and also served as a junior minister in the devolved government. He was a frequent visitor at Stormont in his role as an MP and DUP leader.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why fallout from Jeffrey Donaldson\u2019s conviction keeps growingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Assembly speaker, DUP MLA Edwin Poots, asked its chief executive to conduct the review. Former and current Assembly members, as well as party staff members or those who used the government building, were asked to report any incidents of abuse or inappropriate behaviours they directly experienced.<\/p>\n

A dedicated contact route was established and support arrangements were put in place during the process.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jeffrey Donaldson found guilty: the full storyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Searches of relevant Assembly Commission records were also carried out.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Assembly spokesperson confirmed the review \u201chas now concluded\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reports were received through the dedicated review contact route and no relevant information was identified through the internal information search,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing publication, the dedicated review contact route will close. Any subsequent approach received by the Assembly will be handled under Assembly Commission policies and procedures, with urgent referral to the PSNI or another statutory agency where appropriate. Anyone wishing to report a criminal matter should contact the PSNI directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three other inquiries about Donaldson\u2019s actions in the workplace remain ongoing.<\/p>\n

Child safeguarding expert Jim Gamble is heading up a report commissioned by the DUP while the Ulster Unionist Party<\/a>, of which Donaldson was previously a member, also said it would appoint an external organisation to allow people to confidentially disclose information.<\/p>\n

The Northern Ireland Civil Service is asking staff to report any inappropriate behaviour during Donaldson\u2019s time as a junior minister.<\/p>\n

Donaldson is currently in custody at Maghaberry prison outside Lisburn. His sentencing hearing is due to take place at Newry Crown Court later this month. The former Lagan Valley MP is appealing his conviction<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No reports of inappropriate behaviour by former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson were received by a review team investigating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14063,61,60,14062,43,103173,21754,49234],"class_list":["post-614342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dup-links","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jeffrey-donaldson","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland-assembly","tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland-psni","tag-ulster-unionist-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}