Alderman John Carson with Michelle O'Neill who has been suspended from his role for Three months. October 10 2022 03:35 PM
Mr Carson, a councillor in Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, made the post in April 2021 on Facebook under a photograph of the then deputy First Minister Ms O’Neill, where he wrote: “She will be put back in her kennel.”
At the time the DUP distanced itself from the comments, telling the BBC's Nolan Show that Mr Carson was expressing a personal opinion and not that of the party.
In a statement, the Northern Ireland Local Commissioner for Standards said the sanction against the DUP member was imposed after “a complaint was received by the Local Government Ethical Standards Directorate, and an investigation report sent to the Acting Commissioner for his consideration.”
Mr Carson's social media post.
The comment was investigated under the Councillor’s Code of Conduct.
It’s believed Mr Carson attempted to defend the comment as related to “political issues”, however, the Acting Commissioner found no evidence of this description.
Instead, he considered “that the wording was an unreasonable personal attack on Ms O’Neill, with a ‘misogynistic’ tone.”
The Acting Commissioner also considered other factors in deciding to suspend Mr Carson, such as his later apology on social media where he wrote: “In hindsight I realise I have caused offence by a robust comment made in anger. I retract the comment and apologise accordingly.”
The Commissioner “felt that the apology was half-hearted’ and “not a personal apology to Ms O’Neill”.
Mr Carson has no previous record of breaching the code.
The Commissioner also concluded Mr Carson “had not shown meaningful hindsight into his actions” and considered that a period of suspension of three months was a “necessary and proportionate response to the breach found” to uphold confidence in standards.
Sinn Féin Sinn Féin councillor Ian Friary has welcomed the suspension and called on the DUP leadership to act.
“The decision by the local government commissioner for standards to suspend DUP councillor John Carson for three months shows that this type of language will no longer be tolerated,” he said.
“There is absolutely no place for this despicable and disrespectful commentary.
"The DUP leadership should now also demonstrate that councillor Carson's comments are unacceptable.”
With many thanks to the: Belfast Telegraph and Kurtis Reid for the original story.
Follow these links to find out more on this story: DUP councillor John Carson suspended following 'misogynistic' social media post about Michelle O'Neill
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