Ian Paisley Jr urged to reimburse charity for first-class plane ticket

The Democratic Unionist Ian Paisley Jr has been urged by a fellow MP to reimburse a charity for the price of a first-class plane ticket to New York.

The North Antrim MP travelled to the city in February 2018 to participate in a seminar about Northern Ireland’s peace process on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

According to the House of Commons register of interests, he received £6,327 to cover a £5,925 flight and £402 for accommodation from the peace-building charity Co-operation Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland’s deputy premier, Simon Coveney, flew economy on the budget airline Norwegian Air to attend the seminar, with his expenses covered by the Irish government.

Norwegian Air economy return flights to New York from Dublin this month are advertised for as little as €193 (£170).

The SDLP said the former Foyle MP Mark Durkan had also flown economy to New York with the cost covered by Co-operation Ireland.

The Sinn Féin MP Michelle Gildernew called on Paisley to reimburse the costs to the charity after being contacted by people who had taken part in Co-operation Ireland fundraising events and said they were “absolutely disgusted and sickened that this expense was covered”.

Co-operation Ireland said it did not wish to comment on the figures, which were disclosed by the Irish News, a Belfast-based newspaper.

Paisley refused to comment on the matter as he attended an event at Ballymena town hall on Friday. The DUP also declined to comment.

Last year the politician was suspended from the Commons for 30 days for “serious misconduct” for failing to declare two family holidays to Sri Lanka, paid for by the country’s government, in 2013.

The controversy led to the first recall petition in British parliamentary history being launched in an attempt to unseat Paisley and trigger a byelection in his North Antrim constituency.

But the recall petition fell just short of the number of signatures required to force a byelection. Paisley would have lost his seat if 10% of the electorate – 7,543 – signed the petition. In the end, 7,099 people (9.4%) signed it, 444 votes short.

Paisley said its failure was evidence that people had accepted his apology.