A Unionist member has been ordered from the Assembly after failing to retract a claim that a Sinn Féin MLA had been convicted of murdering a postal worker.
Mr Norman Boyd, of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party (NIUP), made the allegation about Mr Gerry McHugh during a debate on a motion on a breakdown in law and order in the North, which included attacks on postal workers.
Mr McHugh, along with a number of his party colleagues, complained to the Deputy Speaker, Sir John Gorman, that the allegation was "totally untrue" and put his life in danger.
When Mr Boyd refused to withdraw his comment, Sir John "named" him and told him to leave the chamber, which he did.
The motion under debate called on members to condemn a "breakdown in law and order in Northern Ireland society" and for extra resources to be given to the police.
Proposing the motion Ms Eileen Bell of the Alliance Party said public and emergency workers had been declared legitimate targets by organisations "who wish to keep their own reign of terror and influence intact".
Ms Bell said the increase in violence and intimidation came not only from paramilitaries but was "carried out by young people who have not been taught any sort of discipline".
Seconding the motion, Mr Kieran McCarthy of Alliance said the Police Service needed an extra £15 million this year and that in coming years "this figure will simply magnify to outrageous proportions and leave our community with a very poorly financed police service".
Dr Esmond Birnie, of the UUP, said Northern Ireland had more police per head of population than any area in Britain but this comparison was labelled as "complete nonsense" by Mr Ian Paisley jnr of the DUP.
Mr Paisley said the Belfast Agreement was responsible for increased attacks and that as an anti-agreement party the DUP had "told you so".
He said of pro-agreement politicians that "if they support a system which reduces the number of police officers and then gurn about crime on the increase and police detection rates going down then they have got to take the consequences of their action in the first place."
Mr Gerry Kelly, of Sinn Féin, said his party could not support the motion because it called for "more resources for a police force that is not representative, is still under partisan and political control".
Mr Kelly also said he believed much of the increase in violence was "not a policing issue, a lot of it is actually down to the community and resources within the community".
The motion was passed without a vote after being supported by a majority of members.