A Sinn Féin councillor has rejected any ‘suggestion’ she ‘deliberately deleted’ social media images from a Belfast City Hall event in which a portrait of a DUP lord mayor was damaged.
Cllr Siobhan McCallin, who was co-opted as a councillor for the Colin DEA in west Belfast in January of this year, released a statement through a solicitor on Thursday evening to say any suggestion she had deliberately deleted the pictures “to impede a criminal investigation is entirely without foundation”.
The Irish News reported on Tuesday how a Sinn Féin Assembly employee who had been suspended from his role as a result of the incident later “made no admissions” to police about attending the event, despite pictures shared to social media showing him present.
The image was shared by Ms McCallin on her X account prior to her becoming a councillor, but the account was later deleted. The Irish News contacted Cllr McCallin on Monday 24 November in response.
In a statement provided via Ó Muirigh Solicitors, Cllr McCallin said she had been admitted to hospital this week for an acute medical condition, and that the content of media publications and social media posts about her had aggravated her condition.
“Our client was in attendance at an event at Belfast City Hall in October 2024 as a private citizen and member of the Glór na Mona writers’ group,” the statement said.
“She was not aware that there had been damage to any portrait on that evening until she had seen media reporting of it.
“When our client became a councillor on the 6 January 2025 she decided to delete her personal X account (@siobhan25) and replace it with the X account (@siobhanMC80).
“The reason she had done so was because she had decided that she would be using the new X account as her platform for publication of posts relating to her new public position.
“She did not want to keep her public and personal posts on the same X account due to trolling and the toxic atmosphere on X, especially prevalent to women in politics.
“Our client has retained her other social media platforms such as Facebook on which she had also posted images from the event at City Hall in October 2024.
“These images remain on her Facebook account. Any suggestion that she has deliberately deleted the image in question to impede a criminal investigation is entirely without foundation and defamatory of her.
“Our client is a mother of four. She works tirelessly on behalf of her constituent in the Colin District Electoral Area (DEA, which is one of the most disadvantaged in this jurisdiction. She has been left deeply distressed by the content of the media publications and social media posts which has aggravated her underlying medical condition.
“We will continue to monitor media articles and social media posts and will advise our client accordingly. We will take all necessary steps to vindicate her position in relation to any further defamatory comments made against her going forward and we will not hesitate to pursue all legal remedies available in these circumstances.”