THE FOCUS to the drama surrounding the personal affairs of Peter and Iris Robinson has shifted to financial questions arising from Mrs Robinson’s relationship with a now 21-year-old man, last night identified as Kirk McCambley.
Ms Robinson, who announced before Christmas she was standing down as MP and Assembly member for Strangford and as a member of Castlereagh Borough Council due to physical and mental ill-health, said in a statement on Wednesday that she had encouraged friends to support the man in a business enterprise.
Her comments raised queries about the nature of the support. In a BBC Spotlight programme last night, her former political adviser, Selwyn Black, made a series of allegations surrounding her relationship with Mr McCambley and how she secured funding for his business .
In her statement admitting an extra-marital affair and her subsequent attempt at suicide 60-year-old Ms Robinson said she was involved in the relationship “over a year and a half ago”.
“It began completely innocently when I gave support to someone following a family death. I encouraged friends to assist him by providing financial support for a business venture,” she said.
In light of Ms Robinson’s comments Mr McCambley was asked by The Irish Times outside the Lock Keeper’s Inn yesterday evening whether and how she had assisted him in setting up his business. He said he had no comment to make.
But Mr McCambley told Spotlight last night that Ms Robinson helped him raise £50,000 to assist him in opening the Lock Keeper’s Inn but that after their relationship ended she wanted this money returned. The programme reported she raised this money from two Northern Ireland businessmen, one of whom is now deceased. The programme raised questions as to whether the funding had been properly declared.
First Minister Peter Robinson, who was back at work at Stormont yesterday after making an emotional statement about his wife’s affair on Wednesday, said on Wednesday that regarding his financial affairs he had always acted with propriety.
“In all of my public life I have acted in the most professional and ethical way. There is nothing that anybody will produce,” he said.
In that interview however, he did not provide any further detail about the reference Ms Robinson made to encouraging friends to financially support Mr McCambley.
The DUP was asked to provide further detail by The Irish Times yesterday. A DUP spokesman said the questions would be addressed but that it would take some time to deal with them.
Meanwhile, Mr Robinson was in talks last night with Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams about the deadlock over the transfer of policing and justice powers.