Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I am disappointed if not terribly surprised that First Ministers Mrs Foster and Ms O’Neill have ducked my question asking them to support an invitation to Her Majesty the Queen to visit Parliament Buildings and address the Assembly to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland.
“2021 is a date which should be celebrated and what better way to do that than have Her Majesty address the Assembly? In 2019 Her Majesty addressed the Scottish Parliament as part of its 20th anniversary celebrations and she has addressed the Welsh Assembly on a number of occasions.
“Why is there such a reluctance to dodge an invitation for Her to address the Northern Ireland Assembly – the only devolved legislature she has never addressed?
“Once again Northern Ireland is being treated as a semi-detached part of the UK with the fact that this question went unanswered for a full month testament again to the unworkablity of a system.
“There is nothing hypothetical about the centenary of Northern Ireland. It is disappointing that the DUP leader is ducking and diving on the issue”.
Mr Allister’s question and the response from the First Ministers are below:
To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether they will support an invitation to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to visit Parliament Buildings and to address the Assembly to mark the centenary of the establishment of Northern Ireland and the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Parliament.
In the absence of any specific proposal by the Assembly for such an invitation, and taking into account the prohibition in Standing Order 19(2)(e) on hypothetical questions, we do not consider it appropriate to respond in the terms requested.