The Democratic Unionist Party is to table a motion in the Stormont Assembly recommending that public representatives should not have to reveal where they obtained sensitive information.
The move comes as the party’s North Antrim representative Ian Paisley Jnr faces a High Court challenge to try to compel him to disclose the identity of a prison officer to an inquiry team that is investigating the murder of a loyalist prisoner during the Troubles.
Mr Paisley has claimed the officer told him that official documents were destroyed in the wake of Billy Wright’s murder by republican inmates inside the Maze prison in 1997.
But the son of former DUP leader and Northern Ireland’s former first minister the Rev Ian Paisley is determined not to reveal the officer’s name.
The DUP will also be tabling a similar motion at Westminster on the issue.
Mr Paisley Jnr said there was a central and important issue at stake. “Members of the public who bring information to the attention of any public representative need to have confidence that the information they provide will be treated in a confidential manner,” he said.
“When people go to speak to their GP, their solicitor, the police or even a priest, information is treated on a confidential basis. The same rules need to apply to individuals who approach their Assembly member.”
PA