A long-delayed mayoral portrait of a Sinn Fein minister is set to cost Belfast ratepayers up to £13,000.
Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey was the city's lord mayor in 2018-19, but a portrait to commemorate her tenure has yet to be unveiled.
Belfast is the only council in Northern Ireland which annually commissions painted portraits of its civic leaders.
Almost £150,000 of ratepayers' cash has been spent on the portraits between 2005 and 2018.
Public spending campaigners have previously branded such portraits an "expensive vanity project", but the council has defended it is a tradition "popular with citizens and tourists alike".
The budget for Ms Hargey's portrait is between £10,000 and £13,000, the council confirmed to Belfast Live in a Freedom of Information response.
It also confirmed the portrait is being created by artist Catherine Creaney, and has not yet been completed.
Belfast City Council said there was an initial delay in commissioning Ms Hargey's portrait as "her artist of choice wasn't immediately free to accept the commission".
It added: "Progress was also disrupted given the ongoing pandemic, as well as former Lord Mayor Hargey's own personal circumstances."
Ms Hargey had to step aside as Communities Minister for six months last year after suffering liver failure and undergoing emergency surgery.
The former councillor was selected by Sinn Fein to become an MLA for South Belfast after party colleague Máirtín Ó Muilleoir stood down.
The council has said it hopes to unveil Ms Hargey's portrait "later in the year, when circumstances allow".
The cost emerges after it was confirmed in January that two Sinn Fein representatives who shared a term as Belfast lord mayor would each have their own individual portrait commissioned.
John Finucane became lord mayor in May 2019 but was replaced by councillor Daniel Baker in December that year after being elected MP for North Belfast.
Of the 12 mayoral portraits completed since 2005, the most expensive was of 2010-11 mayor Pat Convery – formerly of the SDLP before he quit the party – created by John Keane for £15,150.
Sinn Fein has been contacted for comment.
