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The last 10 years in brief
Issue # 8 17th June 2017
In 2008 , Ian Paisley stepped down as leader and Peter Robinson was elected leader but it wasn ’ t long before scandal hit Robinson , after it was revealed during the expenses scandal he had claimed £ 571,939.41 in expenses , with a further £ 150,000 being paid to family members . The party itself face further questions after deputy leader , Nigel Dodds , was found to have claimed the most out of all the Northern Ireland MPs . In 2010 , Robinson faced another scandal after it emerged his wife had an affair and alleged associated serious financial irregularities .
The Red Sky scandal , which DUP ministers tried to influence a decision at a Northern Ireland Housing Executive . A BBC Spotlight investigated the company and found that they had been overcharging taxpayers , and the company were awarded a £ 8 million which was subsequently cancelled . DUP then claimed , “ sectarian bias ” over the decision however , councillor Jenny Palmer was suspended after it was revealed that DUP special advisor Stephen Brimstone pressured her to change her vote at the meeting .
Since 2015 Arlene Foster became leader and her time has seen the Northern Ireland Assembly descend into chaos after in 2017 , Martin McGuinness resigned in protest over the Renewable Heat incentive scandal , which cost the public purse £ 500 million , the scheme was set up by Arlene Foster when she was Department of Enterprise , Trade and Investment minister . It has been claimed that DUP special advisors and Arlene Foster prevented the scheme from closure and that Foster tried to cleanse the records and hide her involvement of delaying the scheme .
Current DUP MPs
Along with Arlene Foster , who has also recently met with UDA leaders , the current set of MPs consist of Ian Paisley Jr , the son of the former leader and founder of the DUP and has previously described same-sex marriage as “ immoral , offensive and obnoxious ”. He also once stated , after a Republican attack on police , “ If dissidents are shot on sight , the community will accept that it is a necessary use of lethal force to prevent dissident republicanism from growing .” Sir Jeffrey Donaldson , who joined the DUP at 16 , he said in 2015 and that gay couple asking for a wedding cake to celebrate was akin to asking for a cake to celebrate the Shankill Butchers , a murderous loyalist gang , in a Catholic area .
Nigel Dodds , other than the expense scandal , he was highly criticised for attending the wake of John Bingham in 1986 , the leader of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force . His office was targeted by the Continuity IRA and he was knocked unconscious during riots in 2013 , where loyalists pelted police with bricks and petrol bombs . Sammy Wilson , a staunch climate change denier who said to the Belfast Telegraph that in “ 20 years ’ time ” we would “ look back on the whole climate change debate and ask how on earth did we believe this ”. He also said during the EU referendum , after he was recorded saying to a member of the public that he
8 was “ absolutely right ” to say , “ get the ethnics out too .”
Paul Girvan , who once said he has “ no problem ” with the burning of the tricolour ” and “ that ’ s a foreign country as far as I am concerned ”. Emma Little-Pengelly , who was publicly endorsed by a loyalist group linked to the loyalist paramilitary group , the UDA . David Simpson , who described pro-choice supporters as undemocratic , anti-libertarian and anti-human rights . Former Mayor of Belfast , Gavin Robinson . Jim Shannon , a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR ) and poetry fan Gregory Campbell , who has written in a social media post “ We will never forsake the blue skies of freedom for the grey mists of the Irish Republic .”
Sources :
Marcus , Ruth . " Gender aside , the fall of Irish politician Iris Robinson is the same old sex scandal ", Washington Post , 14 January 2010
Booth , Robert . “ Who ' s who in the DUP : party members poised to prop up the Tories ”, The Guardian , 11 June 2017
" The DUP ' s full role in Red Sky row revealed ". The Detail .
McCulloch , Allison ( 2014 ). Power-Sharing and Political Stability in Deeply Divided Societies . Routledge . p . 69 . ISBN 9781317682196 . Retrieved 10 June 2017 .
"
Dodds ' expenses bill NI ' s highest ". BBC News .
“ Beyond the Sectarian Divide : The Social Bases and Political Consequences of Nationalist and Unionist Party Competition in Ireland " by Geoffrey Evans and Mary Duffy . In British Journal of Political Science , Vol . 27 , No . 1 . ( Jan . 1997 ), p . 58