POLICE are assessing a controversial tweet by Sinn Féin assembly member Martina Anderson after receiving a complaint her description of those in line for Trouble pensions was "hate motivated".
The Foyle MLA has apologised to a victim of the loyalist 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings who also lost his father and unborn sister in the blast after he wrote an open letter branding her statement "beyond offensive, crass and frankly disgusting".
A PSNI spokeswoman said: "A complaint has now been made to police in relation to the tweet, which is reported as being hate motivated.
"We are conducting an assessment to ascertain if the content of the tweet reaches the threshold whereby any criminal offences may have been committed."
Edward O'Neill, who was injured in the UVF blasts which killed 33 people, wrote an open letter to Ms Anderson after she said the money was mainly for those who took part in "Britain's dirty war in Ireland".
In a now deleted tweet she said £800 million would primarily go to "those involved in collusion and British troops, for instance paratroopers involved in shootings in Ballymurphy in 1971 and on Bloody Sunday in 1972".
"Terrorist bombers, gunmen, child killers and murderers from either republican or loyalist groups aren't victims. They chose their path. I never chose mine," Mr O'Neill wrote.
"Your tweet was beyond offensive, crass and frankly disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself. Stop comparing these people to people like me. We never chose our path.
"The constant rhetoric of Sinn Féin likening these people to genuine victims is blatantly false. Stop it."
Mr O'Neill is not eligible to apply for the pension because his injuries were suffered south of the border.
The Foyle assembly member made her apology directly to Mr O'Neill and yesterday repeated her public statement apologising "unreservedly for the hurt and offence caused by my tweet to people who suffered serious harm during the conflict here".
"My comments were clumsy and were not directed at them and it was never my intention to cause them any hurt."
Mr O'Neill said her apology means "absolutely nothing".
"The only reason Martina offered a half-hearted apology was because she was caught out," he told Good Morning Ulster.
Sinn Féin is resisting calls for her to stand down from the Assembly's Executive Committee which deals with a range of legacy issues.
UUP assembly member Doug Beattie has made a formal complaint to the Assembly Commissioner for Standards and Privileges about a second tweet by Martina Anderson, which he claims is designed to discourage people from a nationalist background applying for the Victims Payment Scheme by describing it as "an extension of UK Government Policy".
"This could lead to those who are entitled to this pension and who come from a nationalist background, not applying for it, simply because they believe the Sinn Féin propaganda line and believe that if they do apply, they are supporting UK policy and the UK's narrative of the Troubles.
"It deliberately ignores the fact that innocent people who were seriously injured by the police or the military are as entitled to this pension as those injured by terrorists during the Troubles."
He said her suggestion British armed forces "will receive legal protections though this VPS legislation" is "false".
"This is creating division, it is deliberate in doing so, and that is against the code of conduct we should expect of any MLA."
His stance has been backed by the Alliance Party, with a spokeswoman saying: "Martina Anderson's comments are something that can and should be considered by the incoming Standards Commissioner."
