Where to start! A number of scandals have rocked the party in the past week or so. Serious questions are being asked about who knew what and when. Was enough done? Was there a cover-up? Is Sinn Féin more concerned about protecting itself than doing the right thing?
As party leader, Mary Lou McDonald is in the firing line.
Let’s take them from the top.
Michael McMonagle — The former senior press officer for the party, from Derry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. He will be sentenced in November. It then emerged two of his work colleagues provided a work reference for him while he was under investigation and kept it quiet.
Patricia Ryan — The Kildare South TD quit the party, claiming she was being pushed out, her social media posts were being censored and questions to leaders of the party were being vetted at meetings.
Niall Ó Donnghaile — The former senator revealed he was the Sinn Féin member who quit the party after sending allegedly inappropriate text messages to a teenager.
Brian Stanley — The Laois–Offaly TD and party member for 40 years quit Sinn Féin, claiming the internal investigation into a claim against him was akin to a “kangaroo court”.
In short, very badly. Again, let’s take the scandals in order.
Sinn Féin said it did everything by the book. McMonagle was suspended. The matter was referred to social services and police in the North. He was charged and will be sentenced.
Opposition parties are not buying that. They have asked whether it is credible the party hierarchy did not know work references were provided for him. Thanks in part to those references, McMonagle got a communications job with the British Heart Foundation, which was unaware of the allegations against him.
Shortly after he started his new job, and while still under investigation, McMonagle attended a British Heart Foundation event at Stormont. First Minister Michelle O’Neill was also at the event. A picture emerged of the two of them standing feet apart. She claimed she did not see him at the event or was aware of his new role. Again, questions are being asked if that response is credible.
Sinn Féin has tried to bat away all her complaints. As far as the party is concerned, it’s sour grapes. The party says her nose was out of joint because she was being asked to contest a selection convention for the general election. For her part, Ryan is standing by her accusations of censorship and vetting and intends to stand as an independent.
This one is a little more complicated. Ó Donnghaile quit his job as a senator in December 2023 on what he said were health grounds. On October 15, Ó Donnghaile revealed he was the party member suspended for sending inappropriate texts to a 17-year-old male.
It also emerged Ms McDonald gave him a “glowing” reference on his stepping down, praising his achievements as a party member. No mention was made of the inappropriate texts.
In its defence, Sinn Féin said it did everything by the book. The matter was referred to the PSNI, where no further action was taken. They party defended the decision not to name him publicly in December 2023 out of concern for his health. Ó Donnghaile has long-standing mental health issues.
Again, all this doesn’t wash with the Opposition. Ms McDonald has been accused of misleading the Oireachtas on the reasons for the resignation. She has also shipped heavy criticism for the “glowing” reference.
This one has descended into something of a he said, she said catfight. He still claims the investigation against him was flawed and has accused Ms McDonald of abusing Dáil privilege, of inaccuracy and insinuation to muddy the waters.
On October 12, Mr Stanley resigned from the party and said he would run as an independent after a Sinn Féin internal inquiry into a complaint against him. The party referred that complaint and a “serious” counter-allegation to the gardaí the following day.
Ms McDonald revealed in the Dáil the complainant against Mr Stanley had been left “traumatised” and the whole thing was a mess of Mr Stanley’s making and it was up to him to come clean and “acccount for his behaviour”.
Mr Stanley has dismissed the complaint against him and claimed he was subjected to a “character assassination” by a clique within the party, likening it to a kangaroo court. In a new statement issued after Ms McDonald addressed the Dáíl, Mr Stanley said there was an attempt to damage his reputation and “shift the spotlight off” Sinn Féin.
We still have not heard the full story from Mr Stanley, so this one has a bit to run yet.
She sure is. The timing could not be worse, with a general election just around the corner and Sinn Féin floundering in the polls. The party should be getting ready to roll out its bright new vision for the country, but that has been parked now with so much dirty laundry to be washed in the public gaze.
The whole mess has again raised questions about Ms McDonald’s leadership, whether she’s up for the job, or is actually in full charge of the party. And if she’s not, then who is? It also raises uncomfortable questions about internal structures within Sinn Féin and how much it has moved on from its past — think Máiría Cahill and Liam Adams.
Understandably it’s a media frenzy, but some very serious questions have been raised about Sinn Féin’s handling of a convicted child abuser and wider child protection issues. It’s hard to shake the notion the its main concern is protect the party at all costs.
No doubt the party is reeling and the gloss has come off leader Mary Lou McDonald. But it’s hard to read how this is playing with the public. We might have to wait till all the votes are counted to see how much damage was really done.
