PA MediaStormont Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has rejected the findings of a standards watchdog which found that he broke the ministerial code of conduct.
Lyons was investigated over a Facebook post he published in June, after immigrant families were forced to flee their homes during racially-motivated riots.
The report concluded that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister’s post “may have heightened tensions and contributed to further unrest” during the riots.
But Lyons denied encouraging protests and said some of the findings reached by the Assembly Commissioner for Standards were “based on statements that are simply not factually correct”.
The DUP minister also claimed his own position had been “vindicated” by some of the evidence which was contained in the report, which was released on Friday.
“The commissioner has also stated that there is no evidence to support a connection between my post and violence,” he said.
However, Matthew O’Toole from Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) accused Lyons and the DUP of arrogantly dismissing the watchdog’s findings.
O’Toole said the fact that Lyons had “doubled down” after being found in breach of the code showed that “the DUP feel that they are above any form of accountability”.
What did the Facebook post say?
Lyons was referred to the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Standards Comissioner over a Facebook post published on 11 June 2025.
It was posted following two nights of violence targeted at immigrant families, some of whom had been forced to flee their homes during attacks by masked protesters.
Lyons’ message informed his Facebook followers that a “number of individuals were temporarily moved to Larne Leisure Centre” following unrest in Ballymena.
He explained that neither he nor his DUP colleagues had been consulted on that decision prior to the move.
Lyons’ message went on to confirm that all of the people who had been sheltering in the Larne Leisure Centre had since been moved out of the town and were “in the care of the Housing Executive”.
He added: “Protesting is of course a legitimate right but violence in not and I would encourage everyone to remain peaceful.”
Why was Lyons’ post investigated?
Hours after the post was published, Larne Leisure Centre was attacked by protesters and set on fire.
Lyons published a photo of centre in flames and condemned the attack, saying there were “absolutely no excuse for what has taken place in Larne”.
However, he was criticised by other politicians and commentators, who accused him of fuelling tensions by publicising the location of people who had fled their homes.
The Assembly’s Standards Comissioner received 65 complaints about Lyons’ conduct – 64 from the public and one from the SDLP.
Lyons told the ‘s Good Morning Ulster programme that he had not encouraged protests and had not revealed anyone’s location.
He also pointed out that Police Service of Northern Ireland had asked the DUP to announce that people sheltering the leisure centre were no longer in the building.