SDLP politician Conall McDevitt has resigned from the Northern Assembly because he failed to declare payments he received from his former employer, Weber Shandwick.
Mr McDevitt, a 41-year-old native of Dublin who grew up in Malaga, Spain, made the surprise announcement last evening that he was standing down as an SDLP Assembly member for South Belfast "with immediate effect".
He resigned because he failed to declare a payment of £6,750 (€7,990) which he received shortly after he became an Assembly member in 2009. “These payments related to internal work within Weber Shandwick. I resigned as managing director of the Belfast office in December 2009 and I provided support and mentoring to the new management team.
“These payments were made through JM Consulting, a consultancy which my wife [Joanne Murphy] has an interest in. These are registerable interests under the Assembly rules. My failure to register these interests at the time means that I have fallen below the standards expected of me in public office,” said Mr McDevitt.
