The Northern Ireland Assembly was dominated on Monday by the fallout from Jeffrey Donaldson's conviction for child sexual offences, with Members debating further revelations about inappropriate behaviour and institutional failures, while Speaker Edwin Poots made a statement from the Chair acknowledging he was informed in 2021 that Donaldson had shown unwanted attention to a young adult woman during the DUP leadership contest. The Insolvency (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2026 also received Royal Assent, becoming law on 24 June 2026.

Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey opened a Matter of the Day debate, stating that senior DUP figures including former leader Edwin Poots had been aware of Donaldson's behaviour yet took no action. "Knowing about his deceit and deception, his double life and double standards, the DUP elected him as its leader," she said, also raising questions about religious institutions, policing, and British intelligence services given Donaldson's membership of the Privy Council.

DUP MLA Michelle McIlveen confirmed the party had commissioned an independent review and pledged openness over evasion, stating: "We will follow the facts wherever they lead, because that is what victims deserve and what the people of Northern Ireland have every right to expect." She also drew comparisons with Sinn Féin's handling of past abuse cases, a move criticised by other Members as deflection.

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long called for transparency from political parties and faith organisations alike, arguing that the case exposed failures in relationships and sexuality education. "A victim came forward and said that she could not even find the words to describe what had been done to her because she was not aware that it was as wrong as it was," Long said, adding that this represented a fundamental failure of RSE. She also warned against conflating Donaldson's sexuality with his crimes, urging Members never to conflate the two as that trope had caused damage to LGBTQ+ people.

SDLP MLA Andrew Muir called for a full independent inquiry, writing to the Prime Minister on the issue, and raised concerns about Donaldson's pension, which he estimated could amount to up to £60,000 per year despite his conviction. Alliance MLA Stephen Tennyson echoed calls for the DUP to reflect and apologise to the LGBTQ+ community, stating those who had pushed "puritanical, sanctimonious and hostile rhetoric" had been guilty of "nauseating hypocrisy."

Speaker Edwin Poots subsequently made a statement to the House, saying that during the 2021 DUP leadership campaign a party colleague brought to his attention that a young adult woman had told him Donaldson had shown her unwanted attention. He said the colleague offered support to take the matter forward as a complaint but the woman declined. The Speaker stated: "I am absolutely confident that there was not a safeguarding issue at any point, because the person was an adult." He announced he had asked the Clerk to the Assembly to conduct an investigation to allow any member of staff or Member to come forward, and called on the head of the Civil Service and House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to do likewise.

In response to repeated points of order from SDLP MLA Matthew O'Toole and Sinn Féin MLA Sinead Ennis, the Speaker confirmed the review by the Clerk would cover Donaldson's behaviour during his time as an Assembly Member between 2003 and 2010 and that its terms of reference would be published. He confirmed he would recuse himself from adjudication on any related matters. He also stated he believed his integrity had been impugned through a leak to the Belfast Telegraph which he attributed to Baroness Kate Hoey.

In a Ministerial Statement on rating reform, Finance Minister John O'Dowd announced a public consultation on two significant proposals: a business growth accelerator offering temporary rates relief to businesses investing in their premises, and changes to non-domestic vacant rating that would increase liability from the current 50% to 75% and then 100% in a phased approach. The Minister said the vacant property measure could generate up to an estimated £20 million annually. O'Dowd warned that if there was no movement from Executive colleagues at the conclusion of the consultation, he would consider whether it was worth proceeding with rating reform at all.

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt faced questions on multiple fronts, including on the ongoing junior doctors strike, which he said was not within his power to resolve beyond implementing the 3.5% pay award recommended by the independent review body. He reported a 41% reduction since March in the number of patients waiting more than 28 days for a suspected cancer diagnostic test. On autism assessment waiting times, he acknowledged over 17,000 children and 4,000 adults were on waiting lists, with waits of up to six years, and said patient safety would be the top priority at a health summit scheduled for the following day. He also confirmed he would ask the Western Health and Social Care Trust for a detailed written account of its vision plan engagement following MLA claims that no such engagement had taken place.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins used Question Time to address what she described as deliberate public misinformation about £181 million returned to the Department of Finance, stating the bulk related to ring-fenced A5 funding that she had no legal authority to redirect. She also published details of a recruitment campaign for road workers, noting over 500 applications had been received, and outlined changes to flood risk appraisal methodology that move away from a rigid cost-benefit ratio to include broader social, environmental and community well-being factors.