A son of the Sinn Féin deputy speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly has denied any involvement in damaging a portrait of a former unionist Lord Mayor of Belfast.
A solicitor for Naoise Ó Cuilín issued a statement on his behalf last night.
He is the son of Carál Ní Chuilín, the Principal Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
On Monday the prosecution service said that there had been insufficient evidence to charge a man investigated in connection with allegations of criminal damage to the portrait.
It happened during a social event by an Irish language group at Belfast City Hall in October 2024.
The bill to fix it was around £2,500.
In the wake of the incident, First Minister Michelle O'Neill told the Assembly that a party employee had contacted the chief whip to tell of their involvement in an incident involving a portrait.
She told MLAs he had been suspended and the matter referred to the PSNI.
The employee later resigned from the party.
Traditional Unionist Voice MLA Timothy Gaston used Assembly privilege yesterday to name Naoise Ó Cuilín at a meeting of an Assembly committee on which Carál Ní Chuilín also sits.
He claimed she had failed to declare an interest when the matter had previously come before it.
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A solicitor for Naoise Ó Cuilín said the statement had been issued in response to the "false, baseless and malicious" suggestion that his client had been "involved in the damage" to the portrait of DUP peer and former Lord Mayor of Belfast Lord Wallace Browne.
"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," Niall Murphy of KRW Law said.
"Any suggestion to the contrary is wholly unfounded."
He said he had advised his client during police interview to exercise his right not to answer questions.
Mr Murphy said people were now attempting to misrepresent the exercise of this legal right as implying guilt.
The row continues to rumble on at Stormont.
The oversight committee, which scrutinises the Office of First and Deputy First Minister, has requested documents relating to the City Hall event.
A junior minister in the office attended.
Aisling Reilly MLA said yesterday she had gone in her capacity as an Irish speaker and a west Belfast MLA and not in her capacity as minister.
The Public Prosecution Service said on Monday that there had been insufficient evidence to pursue the case.
There had been no CCTV of the incident, police could not find anyone who had seen what had happened, there was no attendee list for the event and the individual investigated had declined to answer questions at interview.
As a result it said it had concluded that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.
