Former press officer Michael McMonagle recently pleaded guilty to 14 offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
While two other Sinn Féin press officers, Seán Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley, were forced to resign after it emerged they gave references for McMonagle so he could get a job with a charity.
Speaking in Dublin this morning, the Taoiseach said while he didn’t want to “play politics” with the matter, he said there were questions for Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Michael McMonagle (centre), Caolán McGinley (left inset), Seán Mag Uidhir (right inset)
“This is not an issue in which people should get into kind of pot shots. It’s far too serious for that. It is an issue in relation to how we protect children from sexual predators,
“I’m sure that the leader of Sinn Fein will do the right thing on this, in terms of answering very legitimate, important, fundamental questions about the protection of the most vulnerable people in society,” the Taoiseach said.
Mr Harris said the situation was “deeply disturbing” and said it would be helpful to see the references written for Mr McMonagle.
“What we’re reading and we’re learning in real time is deeply disturbing. Deeply disturbing,” the Taoiseach said.
“The idea that any individual under investigation for sexual crimes against children would find themselves working in another organisation that has contact with children without that organisation being aware, is deeply concerning.
“In addition to that, references being provided from a place of employment of the previous person, presumably references of positivity which no one has seen, and it would be helpful if we did see,” he said.
The Taoiseach added that he didn’t want to “play politics” with the issue.
“There’s nothing more important than child protection. There’s nothing more important than the safety of our children and all of us have to apply the same standards in our organisation that we would demand on the floor of the Dáil be applied to others,” the Taoiseach said.
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the report suggests up to 50,000 tenants in rent pressure zones have had rent increases above the 2pc cap. Photo: PA
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin’s Housing Spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the references given by the two former Sinn Féin press officers should not have been provided.
“The two former party employees who provided work references for Michael should not have done so. They did so without authorisation from the party, and those people are no longer in the employment of the party,” Mr O Broin told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
He added that Sinn Féin only became aware of Mr McMonagle’s employment in the British Heart Foundation in recent weeks after they learned about the references that were given.
“My understanding is the party didn’t know, and in fact, all of this only became knowledge to the party when the issue of the references provided without authorisation from the party was brought to the party’s attention the last two weeks,” Mr Ó Broin said.
