A former Sinn Féin employee will not be prosecuted over damage to a portrait of a former unionist mayor of Belfast.
The individual was suspended by the party after the official portrait of former DUP mayor Wallace Brown was damaged at Belfast City Hall.
The cost of repairing it was £2,460. It has since been put back on display.
The damage happened after an event at the building in October 2024 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Irish language group Glór na Móna.
The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said today it had decided not to prosecute.
It said there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction on the evidence available.
Two days after the damage to the portrait was discovered, First Minister Michelle O'Neill told the Northern Ireland Assembly that a Sinn Féin employee had made the party's chief whip aware of their involvement in an incident regarding a portrait.
They were suspended from the party and later resigned.
The PPS said it had worked with the PSNI to establish what admissible evidence might be available but despite "significant efforts" some "key gaps" had remained.
It was discovered there was no CCTV footage as the relevant security camera had been out of service for some time.
Police were not able to get a list of attendees from the organisation that held the event.
No one could be identified who saw what happened and an email sent by the Sinn Féin employee to the chief whip made no admissions.
When interviewed by police, the man at the centre of the story exercised his right not to answer questions.
The only witness evidence available was the statement of Sinn Féin's chief whip, which recorded that the man had made no admissions when interviewed as part of an internal party inquiry and had denied knowledge of the damage.
The PPS said prosecutions could only be brought where there was a reasonable prospect of proving, beyond reasonable doubt, a breach of the criminal law.
"This was a high-profile incident which generated understandable concerns and commentary about how and why the portrait came to be damaged," a statement said.
"It is understandable that the suspension and resignation of a Sinn Féin member raised expectations that a prosecution would likely follow.
"However, prosecutors can only initiate proceedings based on the evidence that is available and, in this case, there were significant evidential gaps which undermined the prospects of a conviction.
"Despite further investigative enquiries being made by police at the request of the public prosecution service, it was not possible to overcome these evidential shortcomings."
