Paisley To Face New Questions Over 2016 Holiday

DUP MP Ian Paisley is to face new questions over another "luxury holiday" to the Maldives in 2016.

A BBC Spotlight programme has claimed that Mr Paisley accepted a holiday to a Maldives resort at the invitation of the Maldivian government "months after advocating on behalf of its government".

It is understood that Mr Paisley has claimed that he paid for part of the holiday, with the rest paid for "by a friend".

However, according to the BBC programme, Mr Paisley has not revealed the identity of the so-called "friend".

The programme raised questions over whether or not Mr Paisley should have declared the 2016 holiday.

Mr Paisley recently faced a historic 30 day suspension from Westminster and his party, after it was ruled that he had broken parliamentary rules by not declaring two holidays to Sri Lanka in 2013.

Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan said: "The public is entitled to know who paid for this holiday and why Ian Paisley had not registered the trip with the authorities at Westminster.

"Questions also arise about Ian Paisley's relationship with the government of the Maldives, which had been criticised by the UN over allegations of human rights abuses.

"All of this comes on the heels of Ian Paisley's suspension from the British House of Commons following his failure to declare lavish family holidays in Sri Lanka.

"I have now written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathyrn Stone, to ask her to investigate these allegations."

(MH)