{"id":579391,"date":"2026-07-10T22:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/579391\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:23:17","slug":"jeffrey-donaldson-review-ordered-by-dup-will-investigate-what-information-was-known-in-party-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/579391\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Donaldson review ordered by DUP will investigate \u2018what information was known\u2019 in party \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

An independent review ordered by the DUP<\/a> into its former leader and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson<\/a> will investigate \u201cwhat information was known\u201d within the party about his \u201cinappropriate conduct\u201d.<\/p>\n

Child safeguarding expert Jim Gamble will lead the review, the party confirmed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It will provide an \u201cindependent and confidential facility\u201d for members to come forward with \u201cinformation, concerns or experiences\u201d relating to Donaldson\u2019s time as a party member.<\/p>\n

Gamble, a former RUC officer, previously headed up the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.<\/p>\n

The review was commissioned after Donaldson (63) was convicted of 18 counts of child sex abuse last month, including one count of rape, committed against two women when they were children.<\/p>\n

The former Lagan Valley MP is in custody in Maghaberry prison outside Lisburn ahead of a sentencing hearing in September.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfocused independent review\u201d will be \u201cconducted entirely independent of the DUP\u201d, the party said.<\/p>\n

Since Donaldson\u2019s conviction last month, a number of separate stories about his behaviour prior to his arrest in 2024 have appeared in the media.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed on Tuesday it had received a complaint about an alleged \u201cnon-recent offence\u201d after the Belfast Telegraph reported an alleged sexual assault by Donaldson on a woman in the DUP Westminster offices in 2016.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the DUP insisted it never received any report or complaint regarding \u201cimproper behaviour or criminal behaviour\u201d when Donaldson was a party member.<\/p>\n

However, its statement added: \u201cIt is now clear, beyond doubt, that Jeffrey Donaldson abused various positions of power over many years from 1985 onwards and covered up his vile and manipulative behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

The party \u201cacted immediately\u201d when its then leader was charged in March, 2024, it said.<\/p>\n

Current DUP leader Gavin Robinson<\/a> commissioned the review into Donaldson.<\/p>\n

The review will establish \u201cwhat, if any, information was known within the DUP concerning allegations of inappropriate conduct relating to safeguarding by Jeffrey Donaldson\u201d, the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will include who knew, when and from whom they learned it, the form in which it arose \u2013 eyewitness, formal complaint, disclosure, concern, rumour or warning \u2013 and what action was or was not taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

The review will be carried out by a specialist multidisciplinary team from the iNEQE Safeguarding Group, an independent child protection and safeguarding organisation based in Belfast.<\/p>\n

Safeguarding processes, including \u201creporting mechanisms\u201d within the party, will also be examined as part of the terms of reference.<\/p>\n

Recommendations to \u201censure good practice is followed by all members and staff\u201d will also be included.<\/p>\n

The party paid tribute to the two victims abused by Donaldson as children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe salute their bravery and courage for speaking out. Regardless of the crime, we will always be on the side of the victim and as a society, we must do everything possible to encourage those who have been abused to come forward to the police and seek justice through our court system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donaldson must now feel the \u201cfull force of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stands guilty of abusing and betraying the trust placed in him by many people over the years, including good honest colleagues in both our party and the Ulster Unionist Party as well as the wider community,\u201d the party said.<\/p>\n

The work of the review is now under way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party does not intend to give a running commentary on it whilst it is ongoing respecting the fundamental independent nature of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An independent review ordered by the DUP into its former leader and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson will investigate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,4776,13,14,40332,6,41435,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-579391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dup-links","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-gavin-robinson","tag-headlines","tag-jeffrey-donaldson","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116898025021519438","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579391","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=579391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}