First Minister attempts to move on from questions on SF scandals - saying she's focused on government
The First Minister has claimed that she has “spent four weeks answering questions” and is now focused on government – in an attempt to draw a line under recent scandals in Sinn Fein.
On Wednesday, Michelle O’Neill refused to answer questions on a range of issues – deeming them not to be relevant to the committee asking her.
Asked by the BBC on Friday about evading questions at the Stormont session, the Sinn Fein leader said: “I spent four weeks now answering questions, where I'm focused on now is the business of government.
“Emma and I have a huge lot of work to get through. We're determined to continue to lead from the front on all the key issues of the day, whether that is health transformation, whether that is growing our economy and creating more jobs, that's the job at hand. That's the job that I'm committed to as First Minister”.
She admitted that recent events had “some impact” on relations behind the scenes at the Executive.
Sinn Fein have faced weeks of questions about their handling of now-convicted child sex offender Michael McMonagle, as well as scrutiny over why former senator Niall O Donnghaile was allowed to leave with his post with a positive public reference from Mary Lou McDonald – when the party knew he had been sending inappropriate messages to a 16 year old boy.
Many of these questions remain unanswered – and Ms O’Neill refused to answer them on Wednesday.
The party has also refused to answer questions from the News Letter about the fact Michael McMonagle held down three publicly funded jobs at the same time – one of which was apparently in Michelle O’Neill’s constituency office in 2020.
When asked by the TUV’s Timothy Gaston at this week’s Executive Office committee how many days he worked in her office, the First Minister refused to answer, with the chairperson Paula Bradshaw deeming it “an employment contract” and not relevant.
The First Minister told the BBC “you don't come through a difficult period like the last number of weeks without having some impact. But look, people should be very assured. Government is stable. The executive is stable”.