The First Minister faced an Urgent Oral Question from the DUP’s Phillip Brett
First Minister Michelle O’Neill has avoided directly addressing whether she misled the Assembly over the alleged involvement of a party member in an incident which resulted in damage being caused to a portrait of former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Wallace Browne, during an event in Belfast City Hall last year.
The First Minister was facing an Urgent Oral Question from the DUP’s Phillip Brett following the Junior Minister Aisling Reilly’s appearance before the Executive Office Committee last week in the wake of the PPS’ decision not to prosecute an individual following an investigation into the incident which occurred on 19th October 2024.
In a statement to the Assembly on 22 October 2024, Michelle O’Neill informed MLAs that a member of her party who worked in the Assembly had informed the Chief Whip of their involvement in an incident which resulted in damage being caused to the portrait in City Hall. Ms O’Neill informed the Assembly that the employee was suspended, that the party had informed the PSNI and that the individual had subsequently resigned from their employment and party membership.
In explaining their decision not to prosecute the individual, the PPS last week said that an email sent by the reported individual to the Chief Whip, resigning from their post, contained no admission. A later witness statement from the Chief Whip, who had spoken to the individual on 21 October 2024, recorded that he denied any knowledge of the damage and had not admitted being at the event and that the suspension had been imposed pending an internal party investigation.
Responding to a question on whether the First Minister misled the Assembly or the Chief Whip misled the police, Michelle O’Neill said: “The events in Belfast City Hall on 19 October have been fully investigated by the PSNI and the PPS, and I said that in this chamber last week. The PPS have made their decision, and that is the appropriate course of action.
“So, given that there was a criminal investigation, I am confident the action that Sinn Féin took was entirely appropriate.”
The First Minister also provided clarity on Junior Minister Aisling Reilly’s attendance at the event.
“There have been a number of inaccurate comments and claims made in relation to the events at Belfast City Hall on 19 October 2024, including at the Executive Office Committee last week,” she said.
“The Junior Minister said at that Executive Committee meeting last week that she attended the event of the West Belfast constituency MLA and also equally as a Gaeilgeoir. She was very clear about that statement then, so let me also be very clear today.
“This invitation was not accepted in the role of Junior Minister, as would be normal practice across all ministers in TEO, Aisling Reilly forwarded the invitation to the private offices in order to ascertain if she could attend in her role as Junior Minister.
“This is the only reason that the invite is held on file. To be clear, the total information held by the Executive Office is one email, an invitation to Aisling Reilly as a constituency MLA. Aisling Reilly and 4 other Sinn Féin representatives received the invite. Aisling Reilly, as Junior Minister, did not receive five complimentary tickets. This invitation was not fulfilled in the role as Junior Minister. TEO had no further involvement beyond registering the case. TEO did not provide any advice in respect of the invitation. There was no briefing commissioned or compiled from officials, and for absolute clarity, TEO does not hold indeed any further information in relation to the events on 19 October.”
The First Minister confirmed that she has signed off on a written departmental response to the Executive Office Committee, which she said would “confirm” all of what she had just set out.
Chair of the Executive Office Committee, Paula Bradshaw, asked why it had taken more than a year to confirm that Ms Reilly had not attended the event in an official capacity. Ms O’Neill replied that the question “only arises at this moment in time out of political opportunism,” adding that she hoped the written response would resolve matters.
SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole pressed the First Minister on why the individual was suspended and why they had resigned if they had no involvement in the damage. Ms O’Neill repeated that Sinn Féin had taken “appropriate action” in light of the criminal investigation and declined to discuss the individual further.
Pointing out that the First Minister “failed to answer” the questions posed to her by Mr Brett and Mr O’Toole, the DUP’s Paul Frew asked Michelle O’Neill why her party moved to suspend an individual who we are now to believe made no admission to being involved in the incident or present at the event in City Hall on the night in question.
Responding, Michelle O’Neill said: “On 22 October last year, I made a statement in this Assembly as Sinn Féin Vice President. The events in Belfast City Hall on 19 October 2024 have been fully investigated by the PSNI, and the PPS have made their decision, and that is the appropriate course of action.
“Given that there was a criminal investigation, the actions that I took were absolutely appropriate. I am confident in the action that I’ve taken.”
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