IRIS ROBINSON, the DUP MP and Assembly member for Strangford, has announced she is withdrawing from public life, citing ill health.
Mrs Robinson, whose husband Peter is party leader and First Minister, made her unexpected announcement in a statement issued last night.
She said her poor physical and mental health had forced her to reassess her commitment to public representation. The statement added that she had considered her decision over the Christmas break.
“Over the years, I have undergone a long series of operations and though I have never talked about it publicly, I have, against this background, also battled against serious bouts of depression,” she said.
“The stress and strain of public life comes at a cost and my health has suffered,” she said. “As many people will be aware, I have recently tried to return to the full-time work of representing my constituents, following my latest period of illness.
“Only those who have faced similar challenges in life will know the ordeal faced by those who are profoundly depressed and the distress caused to those around them as they grapple with personality-changing illness.”
Mrs Robinson (60), an at times outspoken and controversial figure, will vacate a Stormont Assembly seat and a Westminster seat which the party should be able to fill. There will be no Assembly by-election, as parties are permitted to nominate replacements for members who retire. The party won the Westminster seat from the Ulster Unionists in 2001 and comfortably retained it in 2005 with more than 56 per cent of the vote.
Mrs Robinson was prominent at November’s DUP annual conference when she appeared on the platform after her husband’s address. She was to the fore in June 2008 when comments she made on homosexuality were investigated by police. Calling homosexuality “an abomination”, she said gay people could be “turned around” with professional help. Her comments brought a wave of criticism from left-wing, gay and libertarian groups. The Assembly Ombudsman, however, said there were no grounds for taking any action against her.
In his leader’s address in 2008, Mr Robinson laughed off his wife’s tendency to provoke controversy.
Earlier this year, she was again in the public eye following the MPs’ expenses revelations. Thanks to their dual mandates, the Robinsons attract a range of salaries and payments totalling £500,000. Other allowances, worth £150,000, and a decision to employ family members, led to them being dubbed the “Swish Family Robinson” in the press.
Mrs Robinson, a former chairwoman of the Assembly health committee, had been seen less frequently at Stormont this year.
The only political figure to comment yesterday was Alliance leader David Ford, who said: “I want to pass on my sympathies to Iris Robinson and her family.
“This must have been a very difficult decision to make. I would like to wish her well on the road to a full and quick recovery.”