A TUV MLA has failed in his bid to get the hand-written notes which formed the basis of minutes from a controversial private meeting between Michelle O’Neill and the chair of the committee tasked with scrutinising the first minister.
Members of the Executive Office committee voted on Wednesday by 6-2 to reject Timothy Gaston’s proposal to ask Ms O’Neill’s office for the hand-written notes.
Committee chair Paula Bradshaw, who met the Sinn Féin deputy leader privately ahead of a fractious October 23 Executive Office committee meeting, said Mr Gaston was “seeking to frustrate the committee”.
Ms O’Neill’s party colleague Carál Ní Chuilín described the TUV representative’s proposal as “bonkers”.
The North Antrim MLA asked for the hand-written note after the Executive Office refused to release them as part of a Freedom of Information request submitted by the News Letter.
The notes were withheld under an exemption which said they related “to the operation of a ministerial private office”.
The official minute was written up five days after the meeting.
The refusal letter said that “on balance... it is not in the public interest to disclose any contemporaneous notes”.
Last month’s meeting saw the first minister quizzed over recent safeguarding scandals involving her party.
Beforehand she held a brief “informal meeting” with Ms Bradshaw where they discussed the legal advice the committee had received regarding its remit for questioning the Sinn Féin deputy leader.
A TUV spokesperson A TUV spokesperson said: “Significantly, there was a delay of almost a week between the minute being typed up and the meeting taking place.
“We know from evidence to the Covid inquiry that issues which were not recorded in official minutes of executive meetings emerged when the hand written notes were produced.”
