{"id":157845,"date":"2025-11-01T23:18:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T23:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/157845\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T23:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T23:18:09","slug":"sinn-fein-to-back-no-confidence-motion-in-norths-minister-for-education-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/157845\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in to back no-confidence motion in North\u2019s minister for education \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> has confirmed it will back a no-confidence motion in Northern Ireland<\/a>\u2019s minister for education Paul Givan<\/a> as crowds gathered to call for his resignation.<\/p>\n

The DUP<\/a> minister has been under fire over his recent trip to Israel<\/a> during which he visited a school and asked his department to publicise it on their social media channels.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, crowds gathered at Belfast<\/a> City Hall to call for Mr Givan\u2019s resignation, and Sinn F\u00e9in MLA Deirdre Hargey confirmed her party will back a no-confidence petition in Mr Givan by People Before Profit<\/a> MLA Gerry Carroll.<\/p>\n

However, DUP leader Gavin Robinson<\/a> said Mr Givan was \u201cgoing nowhere\u201d, and reiterated his \u201cfull support\u201d for his party colleague.<\/p>\n

Teachers\u2019 unions have expressed concerns, with the Northern Ireland Teachers\u2019 Council claiming the department\u2019s promotion of the school visit was an \u201covertly political and divisive act\u201d and urging the post be deleted.<\/p>\n

Rival politicians have questioned whether it was appropriate to visit Israel at a time when the country is facing international criticism for the conduct of its military offensive in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll is to bring a no-confidence motion against Mr Givan at the Assembly<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a rally at Belfast City Hall on Saturday afternoon before Palestine solidarity activists, education workers and community groups, Ms Hargey said her party will support the no-confidence motion.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0NI Minister of Education asked to \u2018explain actions\u2019 over contentious trip to IsraelOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Speakers also included Mr Carroll, Paul Doherty of the SDLP<\/a> and Anthony Flynn from the Green Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepublicans and Sinn F\u00e9in have a long and proud history and tradition of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and we will continue to do so,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is grotesque that the education minister has decided to visit Israel at this time when they are continuing to commit genocide, I say shame on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinn F\u00e9in will be raising this on the floor of the Assembly on Monday morning, and holding the education minister to account.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vice-chair of the education committee Pat Sheehan has also called for him to appear before the committee urgently to explain his trip and the inappropriate and unacceptable use of departmental resources, and we will look at all options to hold this minister to account.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis also includes Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s support of the motion of no confidence in the minister that is being tabled on Monday morning, and I, along with all Sinn F\u00e9in MLAs, will be proudly putting our names to that motion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Carroll hailed the turnout at the demonstration, and said Mr Givan\u2019s actions over the last week were the \u201clast straw\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a lot of abhorrent and disgusting things, but what he did this week was the last straw, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re saying today, loudly and clearly, he has to go, his time is clearly up,\u201d he said, to applause, and shouts of \u201cout, out\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been inundated with hundreds of emails of constituents who are appalled at what he has done, classroom assistants, teachers, Palestine solidarity people as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that the motion I will propose at Stormont<\/a> is passed, and he is sanctioned but equally the key thing that will make a difference in my view is not just the motion, is people here mobilising today but also protesting at Stormont on Monday, and every single public engagement he is on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Robinson said on X: \u201cPaul Givan is going nowhere. Unionists will not be bullied by the whims of the pan-republican front.<\/p>\n

\u201cI choose who serves as DUP minister and whatever about the faux outrage and petty politicking, Paul has my full support.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr Givan said he had been \u201cvilified\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement on his Facebook page on Saturday, he said: \u201cOver the past week, I have been vilified by those who have sought to call into question my character and my commitment to the people of Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe very same people among whom, today in Belfast, were shouting the anti-Semitic chant \u2018From the river to the sea\u2019.\u201d \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in has confirmed it will back a no-confidence motion in Northern Ireland\u2019s minister for education Paul Givan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[663,9,10,4776,13,14,40332,3761,18577,6,71,3857,11,12,15,16,5,9620,954,91896,21030,47,39895,51349,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-157845","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-belfast","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-dup-links","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-gavin-robinson","15":"tag-gaza-strip","16":"tag-green-party","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-israel","19":"tag-israel-hamas-conflict","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-northern-ireland-assembly","26":"tag-northern-ireland","27":"tag-paul-givan","28":"tag-people-before-profit-alliance","29":"tag-sinn-fein","30":"tag-social-democratic-and-labour-party","31":"tag-stormont-assembly","32":"tag-top-stories","33":"tag-topstories","34":"tag-world","35":"tag-world-news","36":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}