SINN FÉIN'S Carál Ní Chuilín has pledged to update Stormont's register of interests after it emerged that she had paid her partner's brother thousands of pounds for decorating services.
The culture minister was among seven Sinn Féin MLAs who used public funds to pay a firm owned by Belfast councillor John JJ Magee £68,000 for work carried out on their constituency offices.
A joiner by trade, Mr Magee was co-opted on Belfast City Council last year.
He is also the brother of former Sinn Féin press officer Gerard Magee, who is Ms Ní Chuilín's long-term partner.
Since 2009, the councillor's JJ Construction company has been paid more than £11,320 from the minister's office cost expenditure budget.
Under assembly rules any relation-ship by 'blood, marriage, or partner-ship equivalent to marriage' must be declared, but to date the payments to the minister's common law brother-in-law have yet to be included in the register of interests.
Ms Ní Chuilín said the failure to declare the link was an "administration oversight" that would be rectified in the coming days.
"The relevant details will be added to the members interests register at the earliest possible opportunity," the minister said.
Mr Magee said he had been carrying out work for Sinn Féin since the late 1980s.
"I was doing this work long before I was an elected representative or indeed before any relationship existed between a family member and Carál Ní Chuilín," he said.
"I ensure the work carried out is of a high standard, I employ local tradesmen and utilise local suppliers."
In 2011 five of Ms Ní Chuilín's party colleagues -- Paul Maskey, Jennifer McCann, Sue Ramsey, Pat Sheehan and Paul Butler -- paid Mr Magee a total of £27,775 for renovations and maintenance.
The following year the councillor's firm received £15,750 from Gerry Kelly, Ms Ní Chuilín, Ms McCann and Ms Ramsey for painting and cleaning.
In 2013 Mr Kelly, Ms Ní Chuilín, Fra McCann, Ms McCann, Ms Ramsey and Pat Sheehan paid Mr Magee £11,176 for similar work.
This year to date, JJ Construction has been paid £8,153 by Mr McCann, Rosie McCorley, Mr Sheehan and Ms Ramsey for painting and electrical work.
The revelations in the Sunday Life newspaper come just weeks after a BBC Spotlight programme revealed that the party had paid a research company run by its own finance managers £700,000 of public funds.