First Minister's account of Sinn Fein man's resignation under scrutiny - after PPS statement on portrait 'hate crime' investigation
The First Minister has been urged to explain why she said a Sinn Fein employee was involved in an incident in which a portrait was vandalised at Belfast City Hall – after prosecutors announced he had “denied any knowledge of the damage” to the party’s chief whip the previous day.
A DUP MLA has questioned the accuracy of Michelle O’Neill’s account in light of a statement from the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on the case this week, while the TUV has said “both of those things cannot be true”.
Police treated vandalism of the portrait of former DUP mayor Lord Browne as a hate crime, however prosecutors have decided that there was not enough evidence to secure a conviction.
An unnamed male, who worked for Sinn Fein at Stormont, resigned from his employment at the Assembly – but the PPS says his resignation email contained no admission in relation to the incident.
It further says that a witness statement from the party’s chief whip – who had spoken directly to the individual two days after the incident – “recorded that he had in fact made no admission to being at the event and had denied any knowledge of the damage”.
The day after this conversation between the man and the SF chief whip, Michelle O’Neill told the Assembly that he had made the party aware of his “involvement in an incident regarding a portrait in Belfast City Hall”.
The first minister said that he was “immediately suspended” and the party notified police. She told MLAs that he had resigned from both his party membership and his employment.
In a lengthy explanation of why it was not pursuing a prosecution over the matter, the PPS stated that the SF chief whip said the individual “was suspended so that the matter could be investigated by the relevant internal party structures”.
In her email to the PSNI about the matter, the PPS says the chief whip stated that the employee’s resignation had been tendered “as a result of” the incident.
A witness statement made in February 2025 by the chief whip, who had spoken directly to the individual on 21 October 2024, recorded that “he had in fact made no admission to being at the event and had denied any knowledge of the damage”.
The matter was raised in the Assembly on Tuesday by DUP MLA Phillip Brett, who questioned the accuracy of comments made to the house by the first minister. Citing the PPS statement and Michelle O’Neill’s October 2024 comments, Mr Brett said: “Within the space of six months, the Sinn Féin Chief Whip had confirmed that either they were not telling the truth or that the First Minister had misled the House”.
TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell told the News Letter that “both of those things cannot be true”.
The Belfast City councillor said: “If the PPS is correct – and it is relying on formal statements and emails – then the First Minister misled the Assembly. What confidence can the public have in a First Minister who tells the Assembly that an individual admitted involvement, when the documentation now shows no such admission was ever made?
“I also note that Sinn Fein accepted this staff member’s resignation ‘as a result of’ the incident, even though, according to the PPS, he had denied any involvement. Why would a party accept a resignation on the basis of guilt when the individual himself asserted innocence? Why has Sinn Fein never published the outcome of its supposed internal investigation?”
When the former Sinn Fein employee was interviewed by police as a voluntary attender, he exercised his right not to answer questions.
The PPS says police were unable to identify any individual who had witnessed the relevant events. The PSNI said it had made relevant enquiries, interviewed those with information and questioned suspects.
The event during which the incident happened was organised by Irish language group Glór na Móna – and was attended by a number of high profile Sinn Fein figures.
The News Letter asked Sinn Fein why Michelle O'Neill told the public that a Sinn Fein employee “made the party chief whip aware of their involvement” in the incident - despite the PPS saying that an email sent to the chief whip “contained no admission”.
We also asked the party whether it has considered an investigation into how the First Minister was led to believe this individual was involved - despite a denial of involvement apparently having been made to the chief whip.
There was no response at the time of going to print.