First minister faces more questions over DUP mayor portrait damage

The First Minister Michelle O'Neill has faced more questions in the assembly over what her party knew about damage to a portrait of a former Belfast Lord Mayor.

A Sinn Féin employee at Stormont resigned over the incident last October, which was investigated by police as a hate crime.

Last week, the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said key gaps remained in available evidence and that the Sinn Féin employee's resignation "contained no admission".

It was later claimed that the son of Sinn Féin assembly member Carál Ní Chuilín was involved in the incident - a solicitor for Naoise Ó Cuilín dismissed it as "entirely false".

On Monday, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) tabled an urgent question to the first minister about the issue.

The party's Phillip Brett accused Sinn Féin of "misleading" the assembly, adding: "You stated as first minister on 21 October (2024) that a Sinn Féin employee who worked in the assembly made the party chief whip aware of their involvement in an incident at Belfast City Hall.

"You were then contradicted by your chief whip in her public statement to the PPS where she stated that the individual responsible made no admission of being at the event or knowing about the damage.

"Either you misled the Assembly or your chief whip misled the police. Both are very serious, which one is it?"

The first minister said a "number of inaccurate comments and claims" had been made over the past week.

She said she was "confident" in the actions she had taken and would not be drawn on claims her party had misled the assembly over the issue.

"The events were fully investigated by the PSNI and PPS - the PPS have made their decision and that is the appropriate course of action given there was a criminal investigation," she added.

SDLP assembly member and leader of the Opposition, Matthew O'Toole, accused Sinn Féin of "changing its story".

He added: "If this person had no involvement and no issues why then did he have to resign from his post and why was he suspended from party membership?"

O'Neill repeated her position and defended the party's actions to date.

She also insisted that Sinn Féin junior minister Aisling Reilly, who had been among those at the event, had accepted the invitation in a personal capacity.

The painting of Wallace Browne was removed from a wall and the glass was smashed last October.

It was damaged following an event at City Hall to celebrate an Irish-language group.

The event was attended by a number of high-profile Sinn Féin figures.

The PPS said issues in building a "clear evidential picture" included "no CCTV coverage".