Jim Allister has given notice of a question for urgent oral answer to the Executive Office. I remind Members that if they wish to ask supplementary questions, they should rise continually in their place. The Member who tabled the question will be called automatically.

Mr Allister asked the First and deputy First Minister why the First Minister did not attend events to commemorate D-Day.

Our Department receives many invitations and endeavours to attend as many events as possible. The Executive Office is represented by me, as the First Minister, and by the deputy First Minister and our junior Ministers. Last week, our Department was represented at events including the D-Day commemorations, business awards and the Your Time To Shine female leaders celebration event.

Mrs O'Neill proclaimed herself to:

"be a First Minister for all." — [Official Report (Hansard), 3 February 2024, p15, col 2], yet at the nation and Europe's most significant anniversary since she came to office, she was deliberately absent, choosing to prioritise her party interests and dogma. Is the truth of the First Minister's absence because she and her party are compromised by their association with Nazism in World War II, Sinn Féin having eulogised the IRA leader Seán Russell, who infamously collaborated with Hitler on his plans to invade Great Britain? Will the First Minister apologise to veterans and to democrats for her calculated insult on Thursday?

My original answer stands. Our Department receives many invitations, and I am more than confident — I have every confidence, in fact — that the deputy First Minister represented our office appropriately at the event last week. I attend many events and will continue to do so where possible. We were more than adequately represented by the deputy First Minister last week.

I am glad that the deputy First Minister was there to represent Northern Ireland. However, the First Minister was absent, and it gives the lie that she is "a First Minister for all". Was she absent because, as someone who regularly eulogises IRA terrorists, she was ashamed to stand with real soldiers who fought for liberty and democracy? Was she absent because she was ashamed of the Southern Government's neutrality in the face of Nazi atrocities? Either way, she should be ashamed of letting down the people of Northern Ireland.

I am sure that the Member is not for one second trying to denigrate the role of the deputy First Minister, who was there to represent the whole of the Executive Office.

Where were you?

The deputy First Minister and I and our office agreed that she would attend. We were adequately represented by the deputy First Minister, and I trust that the Member will agree with that statement.

D-Day was an important turning point not just for the United Kingdom but for the world in defeating fascism. Indeed, many Irish people were involved in that turning point in many different ways. Does the First Minister agree that it was welcome that the Executive Office was represented by the deputy First Minister but that, as a self-proclaimed "First Minister for all", she should, on reflection, have taken that opportunity to represent us all on a global stage?

I assure the Member that I am very confident that I can stand over my record as a First Minister for all. I think that I demonstrate that every day in word and deed.

Not on Thursday.

I concur with her comment that it was appropriate that we were represented. It was appropriate that the Executive were represented by the deputy First Minister in agreement with me. That is something that we discussed, as we do with every other invitation that we receive.

First Minister, you will be aware of the fact that the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy are, at present, busy defending the sea lanes all the way around our island. In particular, the Royal Air Force has been doing search-and-rescue work and has been hunting for submarines. I thank the Member who raised the tangential matter of submarines and people who were delivering fascism coming to the island of Ireland. First Minister, bearing in mind the importance of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force to the continuing security of this island, would it not have been better for you to have attended the D-Day events and represent everybody in Northern Ireland as the First Minister for all? Would you care to thank the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy for the excellent job that they are doing in defending this island, bearing in mind that they are not being paid for it by the Irish Government?

As I said on the record, I am very happy that our Executive Office was represented by the deputy First Minister. It was agreed that she would attend on our behalf. We consider all invitations that we receive. On this occasion, the deputy First Minister attended, and I am glad that she did.

First Minister, one of the outcomes at the end of the Second World War was the creation of the EU, ultimately, and its single market. I was shocked last week to hear your party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, say on the Claire Byrne programme on RTÉ that she was not uncomfortable with an increase in checks on people moving across the border in Ireland. She also said that the main issue that Sinn Féin had with the border was around remilitarisation. That will come as a shock to those of us who have worked hard over the past number of years to prevent a hardening of the border in relation to goods and people. I was also shocked to read a Sinn Féin election leaflet delivered in County Louth, of all places, First Minister —

Come to a question, please, Mr O'Toole.

— that said that Sinn Féin is opposed to open borders and that Ireland must have control over its borders. That was delivered in County Louth, First Minister.

Could we have a question, please?

Do you regret that your party, in its failed election campaign, attempted to weaponise the open border on this island? Do you regret that, and will you ensure that it never happens again?

From the contributions of Members, one suspects that there is an election in the offing. I think that we should keep focused on the fact that —.

There was one last week.

Let me answer the question, considering that you have posed it.

Order.

Did you want to say something, Mr Speaker?

I was just calling the House to order for you to continue, First Minister.

Thank you. I appreciate that.

As I have said, our Department receives many invitations. On this occasion, the deputy First Minister represented the Executive Office. I am more than content that she did so. I have every confidence, as a matter of fact, that she represented our office very appropriately.

The deputy First Minister more than represented Northern Ireland in the appropriate way. It is appalling, I think, that the First Minister did not also do so. Will she take this opportunity to stand against Nazism by calling for the removal of Seán Russell's statue in Fairview Park in Dublin?

My goodness. You are all electioneering here. Be serious about the issue. Either you are really serious about the issue or you are not. Of course we stand against Nazism — who does not?

[Interruption.]

Can I make this one point? Perhaps the Members on the Benches opposite will care to listen to it: the deputy First Minister and I agreed the approach to how we would attend the commemoration last week. It was an agreed Executive Office approach. I am quite sure that the Member, like his colleague, would not denigrate the attendance of his party colleague. The deputy First Minister represented the Executive Office, and I have every confidence in her ability to do so.

First Minister, the events of last Thursday were very significant internationally and historically. They were an opportunity for you to demonstrate the cooperation that has been developing between you and the deputy First Minister. Will you agree, First Minister, that, on reflection, your absence was a serious lapse of judgement?

Again, I have every confidence in the deputy First Minister's representation of the Executive Office at the occasion.

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. The Minister has come to the House and answered the question for urgent oral answer in good faith. Can the Speaker review the subsequent questions that were asked? Were they in keeping with the nature of the question for urgent oral answer?

The questions were robust, and the First Minister robustly defended herself.

Adjourned at 3.39 pm.