Complaints to Stormont watchdog increase for second year

Complaints to the Northern Ireland Assembly's standards watchdog have increased for the second year in a row.

A total of 161 complaints were made to the Assembly Commissioner for Standards in 2025-26, compared to 149 in the previous year.

A controversy over a Stormont minister's social media post was the subject of 65 complaints.

The commissioner investigates complaints against members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) and ministers in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.

Of the 161 complaints, 66 were against MLAs and 95 related to ministers.

Some 84 were assessed as admissible and proceeded to formal investigation, while 73 were deemed inadmissible, and the remainder were recorded as "discontinued" or considerations were "ongoing".

More than half of complaints against MLAs related to allegations of "excessive and unreasonable personal attack" including concerns over the use of social media.

Complaint numbers had dipped to 65 during 2023-24 when the Stormont institutions had collapsed in a political row over post-Brexit trade checks.

While the 2025-26 figure represented an increase for a second year running, the commissioner Stephen Wright said it was "aligning to the numbers seen in other years".

The details are contained in his annual report - his first since succeeding Melissa McCullough as commissioner after her five-year term ended last year.

The report said a standards probe involving Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister Gordon Lyons followed the watchdog receiving 65 complaints.

It related to controversy over a Facebook post Lyons made in June last year, when immigrant families were forced to flee their homes during racially-motivated riots in County Antrim.

Former commissioner McCullough found his post about Larne Leisure Centre "may have heightened tensions and contributed to further unrest".

Lyons dismissed the report at the time, saying there was "no evidence to back up" the findings that he breached the ministerial code.

He said her report was "laced with contradictions" and dismissed an assembly motion expressing no confidence in him as "immaterial".