Sinn Féin are being accused of having “gaslit” the chamber by claiming an illegal billboard erected outside Newry was not belonging to their party.
According to TUV Cusher Councillor, Keith Ratcliffe a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted to the Department for Infrastructure revealed that a departmental official emailed a SinnFein.ie email address in August 2023 requesting removal of a “Sinn Féin sign” near the Egyptian Arch.
The Councillor says he has also discovered a letter addressed to the party sent in November 2025, detailing the same.
In January of this year, the Infrastructure Minister came under scrutiny in the NI Assembly for not removing a billboard displaying a message in support of Palestinian children at the same location.
The motion, calling for removal of the signage – was tabled by DUP MLA Gareth Wilson, who accused the Department of failing to take enforcement action that would ordinarily be applied to businesses or private individuals.
Related: One billboard outside Newry: Stormont row over planning and ‘rule of law’
In a statement by Councillor Keith Ratcliffe the following update was provided regarding his findings from the FOI: “During a debate last month on the illegal billboard erected on Department of Infrastructure land at the Egyptian Arch outside Newry, Sinn Fein gaslit the chamber by claiming that it was not a Sinn Fein billboard, in spite of the fact that it has only ever carried Republican messages, including on occasion Sinn Fein branding.
“Sinn Fein Minister Liz Kimmins was expressly asked during the debate about a letter which she wrote to the Infrastructure Committee about the issue, in which she said: ‘My Department has requested that the billboard be removed on two separate occasions; once on 18th August 2023 and again on 5th November 2025’ and challenged to clear up who the letters were issued to’.
“That question was never addressed by Sinn Fein in the chamber, so I decided to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Department for the letters.
“On 18th August 2023, a departmental official emailed a SinnFein.ie email address to say: ‘As discussed, the Sinn Féin sign which was recently erected near the Egyptian Arch is on DfI property, can you please arrange for this to be removed.’”
He continued: “I have also discovered that a letter requesting the removal of the billboard was sent to the Sinn Fein office in Newry on 25th November last year. Its terms were quite explicit. It spells out that: The billboard is one of several erected illegally; They carry the Sinn Fein party logo; This constituted an offence under The Roads Order; and there is expressly an expectation on the part of the Sinn Fein-controlled Department that Sinn Fein will ‘arrange for all these illegal advertisements to be removed immediately.’”
The Councillor asserts that this letter was emailed to Newry and Armagh Sinn Fein MP Daire Hughes, adding: “Tellingly, none of the letters or emails disclosed in the FOI appear to have been answered by Sinn Fein.”
While, he says, the Department stated that it “does not hold any information about the ownership of the billboard”, the Department allegedly made it equally clear that it is “aware that posters displaying the Sinn Fein party logo have been displayed on the billboard in the past”.
Added Councillor Ratcliffe: “We therefore have a situation where, on 20th January, Sinn Fein Minister said: ‘There is no Sinn Féin billboard at the Egyptian Arch: that is a fact.’
“She stated that while refusing to say who her department had written to about the billboard. We now know that: Her department discussed the matter with Sinn Fein in 2023 and sent a follow-up email following that discussion; The second communication sent about the matter was sent to the Sinn Fein office in Newry; and the Department headed by the Minister freely admits to this day that the billboards carried Sinn Fein branding.
“This is what happens when Sinn Fein is allowed to police itself,” he continued. “A Sinn Fein-controlled Department wrote to Sinn Fein offices about Sinn Fein-branded illegal billboards — and yet Sinn Fein stood in the Assembly and denied the obvious.
“The public are entitled to ask: if the law is not enforced by a Sinn Fein controlled department against Sinn Fein, why should it be enforced against anyone when it comes to similar offences?”
