Pressure is mounting on senior Sinn Fein politicians over their handling of events surrounding former press officer Michael McMonagle, who was recently convicted of child sex offences. Advertisement Advertisement The party said they suspended him as soon as they became aware that he was being investigated by police. However, two other party press officers – Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolan McGinley – gave him a reference for a job in the British Heart Foundation (BHF), and did not alert the charity about the reasons for his suspension.
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Michelle O’Neill has said she is “horrified” by the actions of the two press officers, who have since resigned. At an event run by BHF in February 2023, Michelle O’Neill was stood just yards from Mr McMonagle.
She said on Wednesday: “People have shown me in the past few days photographs of Michael McMonagle at a certain event, an event which I went to support the Donate4Daithi campaign. That’s the first I’ve seen of the individual since he left our employment”. Advertisement Advertisement She added: “I was not aware that Michael McMonagle was at that event.
” Ulster Unionist justice spokesperson Doug Beattie says that the First Minister’s argument that she didn’t know what happened to a senior employee “is not credible”. He told the News Letter: “The fallout from the McMonagle case is no.
