Sinn Féin is set to face further questions over the level of knowledge within the party about references given by two former senior officials to an ex-colleague who has been convicted of child sex offences.
Michael McMonagle (42) from Limewood Street in Derry last month pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, and 12 counts of attempted sexual communication with a child on dates in 2020 and 2021.
He was suspended from his press officer job with Sinn Féin after he was arrested in August 2021, and in September 2022 was appointed to the role of communications manager with the British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity in Belfast.
The party has been attempting to quell a growing controversy around the issue after it emerged employment references were provided for McMonagle by Seán Mag Uidhir, a long-standing Sinn Féin figure who headed its media operation in the North, and his colleague Caolán McGinley. The two officials left the party after it was revealed they had given the references.
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Sinn Féin has said the party leadership had become aware of the references only when a media query was received about it last month. However, last weekend it emerged the BHF had had an “email dialogue” with a Sinn Féin HR manager as part of an internal review into McMonagle’s recruitment. The emails state that the charity had received two references from the party almost a year earlier.
The Irish Times has asked Sinn Féin on three occasions if the HR manager informed anyone in Sinn Féin of the contact from the BHF. The party has declined to answer the question directly. Northern First Minister Michelle O’Neill said on Monday the HR manager was the same person who managed the disciplinary process action and McMonagle’s suspension. The HR manager left their employment last March but remains a member of the party.
Opposition parties on Tuesday rowed in behind a request from Government parties to hear statements on child protection in the Dáil, while the controversy is also due to be discussed at a meeting of a Stormont scrutiny committee on Wednesday.
Fine Gael Minister of State for European Union affairs Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said Sinn Féin still had questions to answer in relation to child protection and the level of awareness within the party about the issues.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald appeared on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show and RTÉ's Six One on Tuesday and attempted to draw a line under the controversy. She sought to lay the blame on the two men who gave the references while also citing shortcomings in the party’s HR office.
“For the life of me I can’t explain to you how any rational person could consider giving him a reference,” she said. “They acted despicably.”
She said the party’s HR department did not pass on queries about the references, citing “churn in staffing” and “an issue over maternity cover”.
On RTÉ's Six One, she said “that piece of information did not get transmitted onwards”.
Speaking in the Dáil on Tuesday, Ms McDonald challenged the Government on its child protection policies and said that “very senior members” of Coalition parties have written character references for “convicted rapists and child abusers”.
She said “transparency goes both ways” before reiterating that what happened in her party was “unacceptable and reprehensible”.
Ms O’Neill, meanwhile, she would engage with the Executive Office Committee, though this is not expected to take place before next week.
The DUP MLA and committee member Brian Kingston said “the First Minister finally gave some answers when she addressed the Assembly on Monday. However, even despite the promise of openness, she avoided others and failed to respond to those posed by the media after she was brought before the Assembly.”
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