{"id":29444,"date":"2025-07-28T20:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29444\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T20:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T20:05:10","slug":"claims-of-official-business-in-wimbledon-royal-box-are-an-insult-to-the-publics-intelligence-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29444\/","title":{"rendered":"Claims of official business in Wimbledon Royal Box are an \u2018insult to the public\u2019s intelligence\u2019 \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The notion that Emma Little-Pengelly was conducting official Stormont business in Wimbledon\u2019s Royal Box \u201cinsults the intelligence of the public\u201d, Stormont\u2019s Opposition<\/a> leader has claimed.<\/p>\n

The Executive Office<\/a> has confirmed that the deputy first minister\u2019s trip to watch the July 3 ladies singles\u2019 Centre Court clash between Emma Raducanu and defending champion Marketa Vondrousova earlier this month was taken in an \u201cofficial capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Irish News revealed that the taxpayer-funded cost of the trip, on which the deputy first minister was accompanied by her husband and Education Authority<\/a> boss Richard Pengelly<\/a>, was almost \u00a31,000.<\/p>\n

The total cost of \u00a3980 included \u00a396 for \u201cairport services\u201d and \u00a3152 on transport.<\/p>\n

\"A5<\/a>\"Claims<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Pengelly is understood to have paid for his own flights, with the couple spending two nights in London.<\/p>\n

Ms Little-Pengelly, whose salary is \u00a3125,000, described being invited to the Royal Box as the \u201chonour of a lifetime\u201d, while her husband faced criticism at the time, as the Wimbledon trip was taken in the midst of an unfolding crisis over a lack of school places for dozens of children with special educational needs.<\/p>\n

First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill was also invited to Wimbledon but declined, instead attending the all-Ireland semi final between Tyrone and Kerry on July 12.<\/p>\n

The Executive Office has said there were no costs associated with the first minister\u2019s trip to Croke Park.<\/p>\n

Alliance MLA Paula Bradshaw, the chair of Stormont\u2019s Executive Office scrutiny committee, has queried the \u201cjustification\u201d of the DUP deputy first minister\u2019s trip to Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Ms Little-Pengelly\u2019s Stormont office has declined to say whether she had any other engagements or meetings while in London or to clarify how the trip was of interest to the public.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Matthew O\u2019Toole told The Irish News that \u201cno one begrudges\u201d the deputy first minister a trip to Wimbledon but he said it was \u201castonishing that she thought it appropriate that the public should have to meet the cost of what is clearly a jolly day out at the tennis\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea that official business was conducted in the Royal Box at Wimbledon insults the intelligence of the public here,\u201d the SDLP MLA said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the pre-existing public frustration over the hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on five star hotel trips by ministers, it beggars belief that the deputy first minister expected the public to meet the cost of a trip that most ordinary people in Northern Ireland could only dream about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Toole said he intended to \u201cestablish if any official business took place and why it justified cost to the public purse\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The notion that Emma Little-Pengelly was conducting official Stormont business in Wimbledon\u2019s Royal Box \u201cinsults the intelligence of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-29444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-tennis","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}