THE Stormont Assembly's Communities Committee has expressed no confidence in Communities Minister Gordon Lyons after his controversial Facebook comments about fleeing migrants being housed in an east Antrim leisure facility.
The vote of no confidence follows comments made by Minister Lyons in a social media post yesterday when he identified Larne Leisure Centre as the location that migrant families had been taken to after fleeing their Ballymena homes in an eruption of racist violence.
The social media post sparked a political storm with a number of calls for Minister Lyons' resignation. In a damaging development for the under-fire DUP Communities Minister, Secretary of State Hilary Benn joined in the criticism, urging Mr Lyons to reflect on his comments.
TARGET: A wide range of political opinion has come together to criticise Communities Minister Gordon Lyons
Sinn Féin's Maolíosa McHugh, who proposed the no confidence motion, said: "We have to expect better from the Communities Minister, whose focus should properly have been on housing and protecting the victims of racist intimidation, including five terrified children and a heavily pregnant woman. That is why I proposed the no confidence motion in committee."
Justice Minister Naomi Long has also weighed in, describing Mr Lyons' claim in his Facebook post that he wasn't consulted on the rehousing of migrants in the leisure centre as "extraordinary".
"I don't think his comments were measured or wise," she said.
"It may have been in the public domain, but by naming it [Larne Leisure Centre], he actually elevated it and that is the responsibility that comes with being a public figure and a minister.
"To say he wasn't consulted, to me, is just an extraordinary statement."
Leader of the Stormont opposition, SDLP South Belfast MLA Matthew O'Toole, says he'll be referring Minister Lyons to the Standards Commissioner.
