Barely a month after Murtagh wrote a letter to Speaker of the Assembly, Edwin Poots, and an article for Belfast Live which called out poor behaviour of MLAs towards officials, the FDA have reiterated their concerns after Jon Burrows MLA personally criticised the Permanent Secretary in the Department for Education for not attending the Education Committee:
“The targeting of the Permanent Secretary for non-attendance at the committee, as Jon Burrows did, is unacceptable when it’s clear they are acting on lawful instructions from their Minister.”
The FDA emphasised that while civil servants welcome scrutiny from the Assembly as part of the democratic process, they should also be treated with respect, as: “On multiple occasions, civil servants have been subject to inappropriate questioning and baseless accusations from politicians dressed up as legitimate scrutiny. Civil servants have no less right to be treated with respect and dignity in the workplace than anyone else. These issues need to be resolved urgently so proper scrutiny and accountability can continue. “The people of Northern Ireland deserve better from their political institutions and civil servants cannot be used by any party as pawns for their political point scoring.”
During an interview on Good Morning Ulster, Murtagh made it clear that the issue at hand isn’t just about Jon Burrows or the Education Committee. Rather, “there is an issue around conduct of MLAs towards officials across the board”.
“If Jon Burrows wants to criticize the minister for instructing his officials not to attend, he’s absolutely entitled to do that. He is not entitled to ask a permanent secretary to defy an instruction from his minister.”
Murtagh concluded that focus needs to be directed towards “how we balance the absolute need for scrutiny and accountability but also dignity and respect for officials who… are no less entitled to respect and dignity in the workplace as anyone else in Northern Ireland”.
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman spoke as part of the Bright Blue Panel ‘can AI improve public services?’ at Conservative Party Conference 2026 on Monday 5 October.
While these changes begin to address challenges identified by our members in the CPS, the union continues its call for increased CPS funding, in order to help tackle these crimes long-term.
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