Iris Robinson scandal report due
A long-awaited Stormont report into the Iris Robinson scandal is expected to be published later.
The probe was launched after Mrs Robinson, a former Strangford MP, obtained thousands of pounds from property developers to help her teenage lover establish a business.
Her husband, Stormont’s First Minister Peter Robinson is expected to be cleared of breaching the Assembly’s code of conduct.
It is understood Stormont standards commissioner Douglas Bain has found that Mr Robinson, the leading figure in the devolved power-sharing government, did not infringe the code.
However, Mr Bain is expected to conclude that Mrs Robinson, a former Assembly member, broke a Stormont rule by not publicly declaring receiving the cash from the developers.
The report will be published by the Assembly’s standards and privileges committee.
Mr Robinson leads the Democratic Unionist Party.
In January 2010 the First Minister’s wife’s dealings with her teenage lover Kirk McCambley were revealed, including obtaining £50,000 from two property developers in order to help Mr McCambley secure a tender for a busy south Belfast cafe, the Lock Keeper’s Inn.
That business on the leafy banks of the River Lagan which winds through the affluent suburbs, was in the district of Castlereagh Council, of which Mrs Robinson was a member.
The disclosures caused shockwaves in the North. Mrs Robinson stepped aside from public life on health grounds and her husband temporarily delegated his responsibilities as first minister to a colleague to concentrate on clearing his name.
