Committee hears claims MLA's son was involved in damaging DUP portrait

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

A Stormont committee has heard a claim that the son of Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilín was allegedly involved in damaging a portrait of a former DUP lord mayor.

Ms Ní Chuilín told the committee she had “nothing to declare” after TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said it had been reported on social media that her son Naoise was involved in the incident.

A political row erupted this week after the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said there would be no prosecution over the incident last October when the portrait of Lord Wallace Browne was damaged.

The damage was discovered after an event hosted by an external Irish language organisation in Belfast City Hall.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill later told the Northern Ireland Assembly that a Sinn Féin employee had made the party chief whip aware of their involvement in an incident regarding a portrait and that they had been suspended and then resigned.

The incident was investigated by police as a hate crime.

However, the PPS said on Monday there is “no reasonable prospect of conviction for any criminal offence on the evidence available”.

The PPS said there was no CCTV coverage of the area around the portrait, as the relevant camera had been “out of service for some time”.

It added that the Sinn Féin employee’s resignation “contained no admission” and a man interviewed by police “exercised his right not to answer questions”.

Since then, DUP MLA Phillip Brett told the Northern Ireland Assembly that the person who allegedly damaged the portrait is the son of a Sinn Féin MLA.

Wednesday’s committee meeting had been due to hear evidence from junior ministers Aisling Reilly and Joanne Bunting on institutional abuse, when Mr Gaston raised the issue of the portrait under declarations of interest, saying it related to “procedural integrity”.

He said: “In light of the damage to the portrait of the former DUP lord mayor, what I want to ascertain is if Ms McChuilín wants to make a declaration of interest at this stage due to the interest around this issue, regarding her son has been named on social media as being involved in the damage to that portrait?

“The second thing I would like to raise is junior minister Reilly will be in attendance today in light of Naoise’s employment with the junior minister at the time as a translator, I understand.

“I would seek clarity, does the junior minister also need to declare an interest in dealing with this issue?”

Mr Gaston also raised issues about the damage to the portrait being discussed at an Executive Office committee meeting last year when Ms Ní Chuilín was present.

He said: “We had a discussion where it was raised by (DUP MLA) Harry Harvey and indeed Carál interjected in that discussion, so there needs to be clear parameters going forward, that if there is family members involved that the member declares an interest and takes herself out of the room to make sure the integrity of this committee is maintained going forward.

“I have serious, serious concerns at that meeting, if what we read is true, then there should have been a declaration of interest declared on the 23rd October and that didn’t happen and that was a failing that was allowed to happen and that meeting passed by.”

I have no interest to declare at all on behalf of myself or anyone else

Mr Gaston added: “If there is anybody wants to declare anything, now is the time to do it.”

Ms Ní Chuilín said she had “absolutely nothing to declare”.

She added: “I am here to scrutinise, in front of us today, draft legislation affecting victims and survivors and that is what I am here to do today.

“I have no interest to declare at all on behalf of myself or anyone else.

“I think this committee’s business is on the agenda and others have chosen to add this issue on which has got absolutely nothing to do with victims and survivors of institutional abuse through the mother and baby scandal.”

Later, Ms Reilly told the committee that she had attended the event in Belfast City Hall last year as a west Belfast MLA and not in her role as junior minister.

In a statement on Wednesday evening on behalf of Naoise Ó Cuilín, solicitor Niall Murphy of KRW Law said the allegation he was involved in the damage of the portrait is “entirely false, baseless and malicious”.

“For absolute clarity, and on our client’s behalf, I state unequivocally that our client did not cause any damage whatsoever to the portrait of Lord Wallace Browne. Any suggestion to the contrary is wholly unfounded,” he said.

“Our client responded positively to a request by police to attend voluntarily for police interview and was prepared to give an account. However, the paucity of evidence against our client was such that I advised him that there was nothing requiring an account, and that he should therefore exercise his lawful right to silence. This statutory protection exists for all citizens.

“Our client is a university graduate, has been in continuous employment since graduation, has no criminal record, and has never previously been accused of any criminal offence. The attempts to malign our client’s character in the absence of any evidence are wholly unjustified.

“It is wholly inappropriate for any individual, organisation, commentator or public figure to identify someone as a ‘suspect’ in circumstances where the Public Prosecution Service has determined that there is insufficient evidence to bring any criminal charge.”