First Minister corrects Assembly record - but how transparent has Michelle O'Neill been about recent scandals engulfing her party?

The First Minister has promised openness and transparency about the series of scandals engulfing her party – but were it not for the media there’s a lot that the public now know that they wouldn’t – and there are still many unanswered questions.

Michelle O’Neill has now corrected the record in the Assembly after claiming that the child who received inappropriate messages from Niall O Donnghaile was “in fact 17” according to party records – despite the teenager saying the day before that was 16 at the time, and party leader Mary Lou McDonald accepting that on Monday.

placeholder image — Michael McMonagle (left, highlighted) at Stormont for the British Heart Foundation in February 2023 standing near Michelle O'Neill. He had been suspended from the party at the time due to a police investigation into child sex investigations. The First Minister says she didn't see him, and that he wasn't on her "radar" after he was suspended by the party.

It is the latest in a series of corrections – or omissions of relevant pieces of information – by the First Minister.

The scandal over her party’s handling of the now-convicted child sex offender Michael McMonagle sparked the current crisis facing Sinn Fein – which was only brought to light by questions to the party by the Sunday World journalist Ciaran O’Neill.

At key stages, the First Minister has provided less than the full picture – in some cases retracting or revising previous statements.

The two press officers

The events began when Sinn Fein press officers Séan Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley resigned – and Sinn Fein claim they provided unauthorised references for McMonagle three months after he was dismissed from the party while under police investigation for child sex offences. The First Minister said she was “aghast and horrified” at their actions.

Michael McMonagle

The First Minister became aware of the allegations against McMonagle when Sinn Fein suspended him from his job, and membership of the party, in June 2022.

However she has said Michael McMonagle “was not on my radar at all from we took disciplinary action”.

Critics have questioned how she apparently showed no interest in the whereabouts of a former colleague facing such serious charges.

The photographs

On the 2nd October, The Irish News published a photograph showing Michelle O'Neill at the same British Heart Foundation event as McMonagle in February 2023. The First Minister told Stormont's Executive Office committee that she did not see Michael McMonagle standing just yards in front of her.

The First Minister told the same committee that she had only engaged with the family at the centre of the February 2023 event “not with anybody who may have been with the British Heart Foundation”. The following week the BBC's Nolan Show revealed photos showing Michelle O’Neill talking to the head of the British Heart Foundation at the same event – something the First Minister subsequently accepted.

The junior minister

The First Minister interjected to stop TUV MLA Timothy Gaston from asking her junior minister Aisling Reilly about what she saw at the February 2023 event. We still don’t know what Ms O’Neill’s junior minister saw, or didn’t see. She told Mr Gaston: “I’ll take the question. I think I’ve already dealt with the question chair, to be fair”. Committee chair Paula Bradshaw interjected to say “I think you have too, yes”. The First Minister had not.

The unnamed HR official

Then, the involvement of a third Sinn Fein staffer came to light when the BHF revealed that it told a senior Sinn Fein official about the references for McMonagle in August 2023. The First Minister said “This contact from the British Heart Foundation was not brought to my attention, or the attention of the Sinn Féin leadership, at that time. This was a serious omission”. The First Minister said that person was no longer in post – but that they remained a Sinn Fein member. Their identity has never been revealed.

McMonagle’s three jobs

The First Minister said Michael McMonagle was a press officer. This is true. But she didn’t volunteer the fact that he had also worked for her directly during a period when she was deputy First Minister.

Nor did she reveal that at one point he held down three jobs, two of which he didn’t declare on a Westminster register.

The News Letter revealed that Sinn Fein did not inform the Assembly of McMonagle's suspension, and was not asked to revoke his pass to access Stormont. Sinn Fein ignored questions on the issue, and continued to refer to McMonagle as a press officer.

This newspaper then revealed that McMonagle had been employed directly by Michelle O’Neill in a “full-time” role in her constituency office – something SF had never revealed. We then discovered he was working in Westminster with the party’s West Tyrone MP Orfhlaith Begley at the same time – as well as working as a Sinn Fein press officer.

When he was suspended and left Sinn Fein, he was employed by Sinn Fein MLA Jemma Dolan.

Assembly salary and expenses declarations

The First Minister has declined to say whether she made all appropriate declarations to the Assembly about Michael McMonagle’s pay. An investigation by Stormont officials is now underway to establish if all rules were followed, prompted by the McMonagle case.

Niall Ó Donnghaile

When Sinn Fein’s leader in the Seanad stepped down in 2023 – the party said it was on health grounds. He received a public thank you from the SF president – with no mention of the fact that he had sent inappropriate messages to a teenager. The First Minister told the Assembly this week that she first became aware of the reason for Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile's suspension on 13 September 2023 – and apologised for the hurt caused by her leader’s statement following his resignation. She said nothing publicly until after Mr O Donnghaile gave a statement to the Irish News admitting he was the previously unnamed figure involved in the story.

Claim child was 17

The day after the child who received the messages from Niall Ó Donnghaile wrote in the Sunday Independent newspaper that he was 16 at the time, Michelle O’Neill also told the Assembly he was 17. The First Minister said: “I can confirm that according to our records the young person was, in fact, 17”. The following day, following a request by the DUP’s Phillip Brett for Ms O’Neill to correct the record, she did so, saying her claim he was 17 was based on an application form to join the party. “This information was wrong, over the weekend the young person made it clear that he was in fact 16 at the time, and I fully accept this”, she said.

Committee questions?

Michelle O’Neill has said she is very happy to “engage” with a Stormont scrutiny committee and “clarify the record” – but the Executive Office have yet to confirm if the First Minister will attend to answer questions this Wednesday.