Communities Minister Gordon Lyons missed a recalled Executive meeting on Thursday to deal with racist disorder in Belfast as he returned home from a three-day trip to the Paris Olympics.
Mr Lyons, the Minister responsible for social housing projects in the north, jetted off to Paris on Tuesday and remained in the French capital until Thursday as the Games draw to a close and just three of 40 athletes from the north remained in competition.
The Department for Communities said Mr Lyons would be attending athletics, boxing and golf events during the visit to “cheer on our athletes”, but no boxers from the north were in competition during his visit.
Stormont ministers met on Thursday morning ahead of a recall of the Assembly in response to four consecutive nights of disorder across the north, which was also attended by PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher.
While he did not attend the Executive meeting, Minister Lyons later appeared in the Assembly during the debate on the ‘Opposition to Racism’ recall motion at Stormont.
The department later told the Irish News Mr Lyons had been absent from the meeting due to “travel arrangements”.
“The Minister attended a range of sporting events including athletics, boxing, showjumping and golf on his three day visit to the Olympics, meeting many local sports people, support teams and sporting organisations. The Minister was accompanied by one Departmental representative.
“Due to travel arrangements the Minister was not able to attend the Executive meeting this morning but was able to attend the Assembly recall.”
Speaking ahead of his Paris visit, Mr Lyons said: “As Sports Minister it is a real privilege to cheer on our local athletes at what has already proved to be our best Olympic Games.
“This is a time of unprecedented success for Northern Ireland on the world stage, with a record-breaking medal haul in the bag already from our athletes in both Team GB & NI and Team Ireland.
“I had the opportunity to catch up with some of our top athletes a few weeks ago as they prepared for the Games. I want to pay tribute to all their hard work and sacrifice and I am pleased to have this chance to mark their success and to express our shared pride in what they have achieved.”
