Sinn Féin has suspended one of its Belfast councillors following an allegation that he had exchanged inappropriate messages with a minor.
The party's National Chairperson Declan Kearney said he had told the Chief Executive of Belfast City Council that the whip had been removed from Councillor JJ Magee.
He said Cllr Magee had been suspended from the party without prejudice following receipt of an allegation that "inappropriate online messages were exchanged between him and a minor".
"This has been forwarded to the social services and the PSNI, in compliance with Sinn Féin's child safeguarding policy," Mr Kearney said.
Sinn Féin said it would not be making any further comment while the matter was under investigation.
In a statement issued on behalf of Cllr Magee by KRW Law Belfast, it said Mr Magee "has lodged a 12,000-word, 38-page rebuttal to a complaint which has been lodged with the NI Local Government Commissioner for Standards.
"Our client absolutely denies any allegation of inappropriate conduct and in particular any conduct which may have occasioned a breach of the Code of Conduct for Councillors," it added.
"The complaint as lodged, is malicious, selective and edits significant portions of messages sent and received over a three-month period which deprived the Commissioner of the opportunity to appropriately assess whether the threshold for initiating a complaint procedure had been met.
"Our client asserts that there is not a single line in any message sent by him which could be considered to be inappropriate," it said.
"Our client further confirms that he did not make Sinn Féin aware of this complaint as there was no substance to the complaint and he believed that the matter would be resolved quickly once all the facts were provided to the Commissioner.
"Our client has disclosed every single message sent and received, to and from the complainant.Our client has fully engaged with the NILGCS who will ensure due process and looks forward to being exonerated and having his good name restored. Our client does not intend to make any further comment in light of the ongoing investigation by the NILGCS," it added.
In June, a report of inappropriate messages was made to Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which was reviewed, however no criminal offences were detected.
"Safeguarding assessments and engagement with other statutory bodies were conducted at that time," a spokesperson said.
It is the latest in a series of issues involving Sinn Féin politicians.
Last month, the party confirmed that its former Seanad leader Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile had been suspended from the party in 2023 amidst allegations that he had sent inappropriate messages to a 16-year-old boy.
He later resigned from the Seanad and the party.
The Sinn Féin statement announcing he was leaving made no reference to the reasons why.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald apologised for her party's handling of the matter and for a statement she had issued praising Mr Ó Donnghaile's contribution to public life despite being aware of the circumstances in which he was stepping down.
She had originally told the Dáil Sinn Féin records showed that the teenager was 17 at the time he received the messages.
Ms McDonald later corrected the Dáil record and said she accepted that he had in fact been 16 at the time.
Mr Magee has been a city councillor for more than ten years serving the Oldpark area of north Belfast.
Last week he was helping the party canvas for the upcoming election in a Dublin constituency.
