{"id":201508,"date":"2025-11-26T16:56:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/201508\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T16:56:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T16:56:19","slug":"suspended-sinn-fein-employee-who-made-no-admissions-about-attendance-was-pictured-at-city-hall-event-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/201508\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspended Sinn F\u00e9in employee who made \u2018no admissions\u2019 about attendance was pictured at City Hall event \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Sinn F\u00e9in Assembly employee \u201cmade no admissions\u201d to attending an event he was pictured at, where a DUP mayoral portrait was damaged<\/p>\n

The former party Assembly employee, understood to be the son of an MLA, will not face charges over the damage of the portrait of Lord Wallace Browne <\/a>after the PPS said on Monday it did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute the case.<\/p>\n

The former Sinn F\u00e9in member was suspended and resigned after making the party\u2019s Chief Whip, Sinead Ennis, aware of his involvement in the incident in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Part of the reasoning for the decision given by the PPS not to prosecute the case was that, according to a witness statement from the Chief Whip to the PSNI in February 2025, the individual \u201cmade no admission to being at the event and had denied any knowledge of the damage\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Specialist<\/a>\"Catholic<\/a><\/p>\n

The PPS admitted the only witness evidence available to the prosecution was the account of the Chief Whip, who was not in attendance at the event<\/p>\n

When interviewed by police as a voluntary attender, the reported individual exercised his right not to answer questions himself.<\/p>\n

However, The Irish News has seen a picture from the City Hall event, organised by Belfast-based Irish language organisation Gl\u00f3r na M\u00f3na, in which the individual interviewed by police is in attendance.<\/p>\n

The picture was shared by Siobh\u00e1n McCallin, who became a Sinn F\u00e9in councillor on Belfast City Council two months after the incident at City Hall.<\/p>\n

The image was one of a number of images shared by the later west Belfast councillor, which also showed former Sinn F\u00e9in president Gerry Adams at the event, as well as current Junior Minister Aisling Reilly.<\/p>\n

The pictures, and the account from which they were posted, were later deleted by Ms McCallin.<\/p>\n

Attempts to obtain a list of attendees to the event from Glor na Mona were \u201cunsuccessful\u201d, according to the PPS, who also said CCTV coverage of the area around the portrait had been \u201cout of service for some time\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Monday, Sinn F\u00e9in said it \u201cfully cooperated\u201d with the investigation into the criminal damage.<\/p>\n

It did not respond to further questions about the deletion of images of the reported individual at the event from social media, or why the only witness evidence available to the PPS was from a Sinn F\u00e9in representative who was not present at the event.<\/p>\n

Cllr McCallin and Gl\u00f3r na M\u00f3na were both contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe incident that occurred in the City Hall was a matter for the police to investigate and then for the PPS to decide on the appropriate course of action,\u201d a Sinn F\u00e9in spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process has been thorough and has now reached a conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinn F\u00e9in cooperated fully in this investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DUP has said the handling of the case \u201cmakes a mockery of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision not to prosecute in the Belfast City Hall portrait case is a shame and disgrace. A year after this incident, the public are left with no justice and no answers,\u201d Philip Brett MLA said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is appalling that damage to property inside one of the most secure public buildings in Northern Ireland cannot be traced or proven because of no CCTV, no attendee list, and no admissible evidence. That makes a mockery of justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Minister and the Chief Whip should give a detailed account publicly of how this statement was made and Sinn Fein should publish their internal report. There are clear requirements on both the First Minister and the Chief Whip to uphold the rule of law. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disappointing that when the First Minister had the chance today, she refused to name the individual responsible and any relationship that they have with any sitting Sinn Fein MLAs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PPS may have applied its legal test correctly, but the wider handling of this case is a damning reflection of how accountability has been avoided rather than achieved. No one can look at these facts and feel confident that justice has been done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Sinn F\u00e9in Assembly employee \u201cmade no admissions\u201d to attending an event he was pictured at, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[110111,9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,47,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-201508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-belfast-city-hall","9":"tag-breaking-news","10":"tag-breakingnews","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-sinn-fein","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115617057328595006","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}