The Northern Ireland Assembly convened on Monday 2 March 2026 for a session dominated by a heated debate on the escalating conflict involving Iran and its implications for the United Kingdom, alongside a ministerial statement on energy policy and a range of members' statements covering local and national issues. The session also opened with confirmation that the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Bill had received Royal Assent on 25 February 2026, becoming Chapter 2 of the Deaths, Still-Births and Baby Loss Act (Northern Ireland) 2026.

The matter of the day centred on the escalating Middle East conflict following reported US and Israeli military strikes on Iran, which drew sharply divided responses from across the chamber. TUV MLA Timothy Gaston, who was granted leave to speak under Standing Order 24, used the debate to criticise Sinn Féin and First Minister Michelle O'Neill, accusing the party of selective moral outrage and drawing comparisons between the Iranian regime and the IRA. "For as long as the Members to my left continue to defend the blood-soaked IRA, they will be treated with contempt when they profess concern for the lives of innocent civilians," Gaston said.

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll condemned the strikes as an act of aggression, arguing that "the enablers and implementers of a genocide in Palestine have no interest in or concern about democracy or human rights for anybody in the world." He called on the UK Government to ensure that Belfast International Airport at Aldergrove was not used to support military operations in the Middle East. Sinn Féin's Declan Kearney described the US and Israeli actions as "a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter and international law" and called for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy.

In contrast, DUP MLAs Paul Frew and Jonathan Buckley expressed support for military action against the Iranian regime. Frew argued that Iran had been "covertly funding terrorism across the region and the world for many decades" and that it was right for the UK to protect its people and interests. Buckley described the killing of the Iranian supreme leader as a moment of liberation, saying "the world is a safer place with him not in it," while also criticising Prime Minister Keir Starmer for what he called a "dithering" response to the conflict.

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie acknowledged concerns about President Trump's foreign policy, describing him as "unhinged," but said he supported preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and backed the use of Aldergrove in any coalition effort. Alliance MLA Eóin Tennyson condemned the Iranian regime's human rights abuses but cautioned that "illegal and unilateral action is unlikely to secure" a democratic future for Iran, calling for "maximum restraint" and "full respect for international law." SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole questioned whether aerial bombardment had ever proven to be a successful means of engendering stable democratic government in the Middle East.

A separate members' statement by DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen raised concerns about First Minister Michelle O'Neill's absence from an emergency security briefing convened by the UK Cabinet Office on Saturday evening. McIlveen noted that the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales had attended the briefing, with Northern Ireland represented only by deputy First Minister Paul Givan. "If the First Minister was genuinely unable to attend, the public deserves to know why," McIlveen said, calling for full Executive engagement in all further coordination with the UK Government.

TUV MLA Timothy Gaston also used a members' statement to criticise the Assembly's approach to MLA pay, arguing that the Independent Remuneration Board process had been designed to favour a significant pay increase. He claimed that the proposed 27% rise in MLA salaries was being fast-tracked through a process that excluded genuine public consultation, while legislation on special educational needs had been deemed too time-consuming. Gaston called on all MLAs to make their responses to the consultation public before it closed on Thursday.

DUP MLA Gordon Kingston raised the issue of the vandalism of a statue of Queen Victoria at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, describing the paint attack by masked individuals as "a hate crime" and calling on Sinn Féin representatives in West Belfast to condemn the incident. He warned that if a major hospital could not be considered a safe place in west Belfast, then questions arose about the safety of other major venues in the area.

Economy Minister Conor Murphy's colleague Dr Caoimhe Archibald delivered a ministerial statement on the British-Irish Council energy work sector meeting held on 12 February, outlining progress across themes including decarbonisation of heat, offshore renewables, hydrogen, and community energy. Archibald announced that Northern Ireland would lead on the theme of public acceptance in the new BIC energy work plan and confirmed that a petroleum exploration and licensing repeal Bill, introducing a permanent ban on fracking and onshore petroleum licensing, would be brought before the Assembly on 24 March. The statement drew questions from MLAs on the impact of rising oil prices following the Middle East conflict, with Archibald acknowledging that events of the past 48 hours had "again demonstrated how our reliance on fossil fuels impacts on people's pockets."

Elsewhere in members' statements, DUP MLA Keith Buchanan raised concerns that NI Water had presented inaccurate figures at a Mid Ulster District Council meeting, claiming that 70% of water pollution originated from agriculture, a figure he said had since been contradicted by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute. Buchanan called on the Infrastructure Minister to retract the statement and restore confidence in NI Water. Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister advocated for the 20's Plenty campaign to introduce a default 20 mph speed limit on residential streets, citing Welsh data showing a 25% reduction in casualties in former 30 mph zones following a similar change.