A Stormont infrastructure committee has called on Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins to order the removal of an unauthorised billboard on Camlough Road outside Newry. The structure carries graffiti supporting Niall Sheerin, who received a prison sentence in 2022 for possessing a firearm connected to the 2019 death of journalist Lyra McKee in Derry's Creggan estate.

Peter Martin, DUP chairman of the committee, labelled the graffiti unacceptable and pressed for department staff to dismantle the billboard's posts. John Stewart of the UUP stated that the department should act without delay to resolve the matter. Alliance member Peter McReynolds noted that the billboard issue has consumed excessive committee time.

The committee decided to contact Kimmins, a Sinn Féin assembly member, requesting instructions for department officials to demolish the billboard entirely. Council planners are examining the site, which spans department and private land near the A1 Newry bypass.

Kimmins has maintained that the billboard presents minimal risk to road users and does not block traffic sight lines. Department officials previously asked Sinn Féin to remove displays from the billboard in 2023 and November of the prior year. Kimmins stated last month that no party branding remained on the structure.

Sheerin, aged 29 at sentencing from Londonderry's Tyrconnell Street, admitted holding the weapon from September 2018 to June 2020. A Belfast Crown Court judge described him as linked to a dangerous terrorist group but ruled insufficient evidence tied him directly to McKee's shooting, which the New IRA claimed.