An internal inquiry into the party’s handling of issues related to a former Sinn Fein employee was “not required”, First Minister Michelle O’Neill has said. She said this was because the two party colleagues who had provided a reference to Michael McMonagle had resigned. The Sinn Fein vice president also said that the party was not aware of allegations against McMonagle before the police investigation.
Last month, McMonagle, 42, from Limewood Street, Londonderry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. It also came to light that Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolan McGinley resigned as Sinn Fein press officers on Saturday, days after it emerged they had given references for their former colleague, McMonagle, for a job at a charity in 2022. Calling the action of the two press officers “gross misconduct”, Ms O’Neill defended the party’s handling of the situation and said she had a “zero tolerance for this”.
She said: “I’m horrified by the actions of the two former employees. “They should not have done it. It was wrong.
They have both now resigned as a result of an internal process and that was the appropriate thing to do, because it did demonstrate gross misconduct. “The minute I became aware of this, I took action, I did something about it, and both former colleagues have now resigned, and that’s appropriate because it represented misconduct.” Ms O’Neill was also asked about an event she attend.
