OUR LATEST ISSUE
SITE SEARCH
Two other extramarital affairs alleged. Her husband will step down - for six weeks
By: John Howard
Iris Robinson
Iris Robinson
Iris Robinson, who said gays should see a psychiatrist, seeing a psychiatrist
Disgraced MP Iris Robinson is said to be receiving "acute psychiatric care" amid allegations of two extramarital affairs in addition to that with the then nineteen-year-old Kirk McCambley in 2008.
It has now been reported that Robinson had an affair with McCambley's father when Kirk was nine and promised to look after the boy in the event of the McCambley senior's death.
The other alleged affair, during the 1980s, was with an unnamed fellow Democratic Unionist Party politician and was said to be witnessed by security personnel.
Just before Christmas, Robinson, MP for Strangford in Northern Ireland, announced that she was retiring from politics owing to mental health issues.
Just before Christmas, Robinson, MP for Strangford in Northern Ireland, announced that she was retiring from politics owing to mental health issues.
She subsequently released a statement revealing a suicide attempt following her confession to her husband that she had had an affair with another man, later named as Kirk McCambley.
Today, a DUP spokesman denied earlier reports that Robinson had left Northern Ireland for a luxury skiing holiday in Chamonix and said that she was, in fact, receiving psychiatric treatment in a Belfast hospital.
Her activities have caused a political crisis in the province, following claims that she broke parliamentary rules by not declaring the £50,000 given to her by two property developers, which she then handed to Kirk McCambley to allow him to set up in business, and that she did not declare her interest when the local council she sat on awarded the lease of a restaurant to him.
It is also alleged that Robinson took £5,000 of the money for herself, and that when the relationship broke down, demanded the loan returned and wanted £25,000 paid into the account of her church, the Light and Life Methodist Church in East Belfast.
Today, a DUP spokesman denied earlier reports that Robinson had left Northern Ireland for a luxury skiing holiday in Chamonix and said that she was, in fact, receiving psychiatric treatment in a Belfast hospital.
Her activities have caused a political crisis in the province, following claims that she broke parliamentary rules by not declaring the £50,000 given to her by two property developers, which she then handed to Kirk McCambley to allow him to set up in business, and that she did not declare her interest when the local council she sat on awarded the lease of a restaurant to him.
It is also alleged that Robinson took £5,000 of the money for herself, and that when the relationship broke down, demanded the loan returned and wanted £25,000 paid into the account of her church, the Light and Life Methodist Church in East Belfast.
She is also accused of lobbying on behalf of one of the property developers, Ken Campbell, for a building scheme he was involved with in her constituency.
Her husband, Northern Ireland's joint First Minister and leader of the DUP, Peter Robinson, is fighting for his political life and the future of power sharing in the province following allegations that when he became aware that his wife had secured the loan to McCambley, he insisted the money should be repaid, but did not inform the authorities about it.
Her husband, Northern Ireland's joint First Minister and leader of the DUP, Peter Robinson, is fighting for his political life and the future of power sharing in the province following allegations that when he became aware that his wife had secured the loan to McCambley, he insisted the money should be repaid, but did not inform the authorities about it.
In a statement made today (Monday 11 January) Robinson said that he would step down from his position for six weeks..
In 2008, Iris Robinson was the subject of a police investigation after complaints were lodged with the BBC following her comments on Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show. Robinson had told listeners that homosexuality was "disgusting, loathsome, nauseating, wicked and vile", an "abomination" that could be "cured" by therapy.
She said: "I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals - trying to turn away from what they are engaged in. And I have met people who have turned around to become heterosexual."
In the same month, the then 59-year-old fundamentalist Christian said in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph that she was "repulsed" by homosexuality, and regarded it as "comparable" to child sex abuse.
In 2008, Iris Robinson was the subject of a police investigation after complaints were lodged with the BBC following her comments on Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show. Robinson had told listeners that homosexuality was "disgusting, loathsome, nauseating, wicked and vile", an "abomination" that could be "cured" by therapy.
She said: "I have a very lovely psychiatrist who works with me in my offices and his Christian background is that he tries to help homosexuals - trying to turn away from what they are engaged in. And I have met people who have turned around to become heterosexual."
In the same month, the then 59-year-old fundamentalist Christian said in an interview with the Belfast Telegraph that she was "repulsed" by homosexuality, and regarded it as "comparable" to child sex abuse.
She has also said: "Just as a murderer can be redeemed by the blood of Christ, so can a homosexual."
