A PORTRAIT of former Lord Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile is to be removed from Belfast City Hall.
It follows revelations that Mr Ó Donnghaile quit Sinn Féin last year after sending inappropriate texts to a 17-year-old. Party group leaders on Belfast City Council met on Thursday and agreed the request from the DUP and TUV.
It is tradition that a portrait is commissioned by Belfast City Council for Lord Mayors who have served, and erected in Belfast City Hall. Ó Donnghaile was elected as Belfast Lord Mayor in 2011, when he was just 25.
He stepped down from the Seanad in December 2023, citing health reasons. But on Tuesday, it emerged he had been suspended by the party months earlier, following a complaint that he had sent messages of a personal nature to a teenage boy.
Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said, following a referral by Sinn Féin, there were no findings of illegality and no criminal charges.
Speaking about the removal of the portrait, First Minister Michelle O'Neill said today: "His behaviour was completely inappropriate so therefore we had no issue whatsoever in terms of backing the removal of the portrait."
