Blog:Irish Family Robinson
From Bolton Interweb
Helen Hywater, Westminster Correspondent, 10th January 2010
Mrs Iris Robinson, MP, MLA, and Councillor, wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson, is a particularly nasty piece of work, an absolute disgrace to her profession, her party, her church, her constituents, and decent people everywhere. Her only saving grace is that she has decided to resign. A hypocrite of the highest order when it comes to pontifications on sin, does anyone think she would have resigned had she not been caught out by BBC journalists? She claims she is resigning due to mental illness. Being disgraced in public is certainly traumatic as her world, where she clearly thought she was above the law, tumbles down around her and takes her husband's career with it. But any mental illness she has now was most certainly self-inflicted and the honorable reason to have given would have been extreme remorse at her wrongdoings, and the damage to public trust in those who represent and govern them. In Northern Ireland this is infinitely more important than elsewhere in the UK.
In 2008 Mrs Robinson hit the public spotlight by making homophobic remarks in response to an attack on a gay man in Northern Ireland. Robinson compared homosexuality with murder, saying "just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual... If anyone takes issue, they're taking issue with the word of God". Around the same time she was embarking on an affair with a 19-year-old, 40 years her junior. Last I heard, adultery was one of the Ten Commandments but the case for homosexuality being a sin relies on somewhat more obscure parts of the Bible. Robinson holds a somewhat extreme view on the subject, and if it were just personal then she could be dismissed as just a nutter but she took it further, saying "it is the government's responsibility to uphold God's law". That tips it over the line. Her husband made statements that appeared to support her views. She was investigated by the police but no charges were brought.
Then there were claims about the Robinson's parliamentary expenses. The Daily Mail claimed they were making £571,939.41 a year from the taxpayer in salaries and expenses. This must put them at the extreme wrong end of the Expenses row, and whilst they claim that they did everything within the rules at the time, this is a pretty lame excuse, the whole point was an expectation that our MPs should know right from wrong, not legal from illegal.
The BBC Spotlight programme, though, alleges that Robinson was engaged in something more than moral hypocrisy and stretching the limits of parliamentary expenses. Castlereagh Council, on which Mrs Robinson sits as a councillor, wanted a tenant to run a cafe. Robinson allegedly raised money from two developers to the tune of £50,000 to set up her 19-year-old lover up in business as the tenant. The BBC reports that she lobbied for council approval for one of the developers projects at the same time. Robinson was, apparently, in attendance when the lease was authorised to signed over to her lover by the council. If these allegations are true then this must surely be one of the most clear examples of corruption to come to light in recent years. The BBC also alleges that Robinson did not declare the £50,000 in the Register of Members Interest that all MPs have to comply with, and that when he found out, Peter Robinson did not report the incident to the proper authorities as he is obliged to do under Ministerial Codes. Peter Robinson claims he has done nothing wrong and would robustly challenge any allegations to the contrary, but the political winds are shifting against him, building into a hurricane. Sympathy has turned into a complete lack of trust.
It is to be hoped that the police and CPS will thoroughly investigate all the allegations made against Iris Robinson, and that her husband's failure to report his knowledge of her alleged wrongdoings is also considered carefully against the Ministerial Codes. In fairness, Peter Robinson has already called for an independent inquiry to examine the allegations against him. Those in power must understand that they are not above the law and do what as they like without fear of prosecution. If found guilty, it is also to be hoped that a lengthy custodial sentence is handed out to discourage others. Remember that Mrs Robinson is not expressing any remorse, but claiming mental illness brought on by the stress and strain of public life. I can find no evidence of Mrs Robinson denying the allegations made only that she was too ill to respond. Her party, the DUP, has already expelled her.
Incidentally, if I appear to be dismissive of mental illness as a defence to wrongdoing then this is incorrect. What I am against is the inappropriate use of mental illness as an excuse. Any legislator who is suffering so acutely from a mental condition that impairs on their judgement to the extent that they abuse their office is unfit to hold that office and must resign when it becomes apparent to them, not when it is revealed by the media. Robinson is undoubtedly only resigning now because she got caught by journalists and her party has disowned her. Hence no sympathy for a person who has, in the past, shown reprehensible and hypocritical intolerance for her fellow citizens on the grounds of their sexuality whilst breaking Commandment No. 7 (or No. 6 for Catholics).
© Evrose, 2011
