As decision looms, prosecutors face three options over whether to prosecute Michelle O’Neill over her role at Bobby Storey’s huge funeral

The June 30 2020 funeral for IRA commander Bobby Storey involved thousands of members of the public, some of whom had come there after Sinn Féin advertised details of the event – something contrary to what the Executive of which Ms O’Neill is the joint head was telling the public to do.

At the time, Ms O’Neill said she would “never apologise for attending the funeral of my friend” – even though the regulations in place at that time stipulated that people should only attend the funeral of a friend in specified circumstances – such as when the family could not be there – which did not apply to last June’s funeral.

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Police took five months to even interview Ms O’Neill about the issue but then within about three weeks went from not having even spoken to the deputy first minister to having completed its investigation and handed over a file to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS).

Since then, the PPS has been considering that file and whether its contents could lead to a successful prosecution of Ms O’Neill and the others contained within it.

At 1pm tomorrow, the verdict will be announced.

It is expected that prosecutors will also announce whether prosecutions are to be taken in relation to another republican funeral which preceded that of Mr Storey.

In that case – where crowds gathered almost a year ago for the funeral of former IRA man Francie McNally – the police again took many months to complete their investigation, despite the PSNI describing the event as having involved “blatant” breaches of the law.

The PPS is also expected to announce prosecutorial verdicts in two other lower profile cases involving possible breaches of the law linked to funerals or deaths.

Prosecutors will announce one of three outcomes in regard to each of the individuals under consideration.

The first option is to prosecute, in which case the case will move to the magistrate’s court – or, if the defendant elects, before a jury in the Crown Court.

The second option is not to prosecute, which legally brings an end to the matter.

The third option is a ‘diversionary disposal’ such as an informed warning – but that is only possible if the individual accepts they broke the law.

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