Both the Dáil and the people of Ireland were “duped” by Sinn Féin, Taoiseach Simon Harris has said, while stating the controversy facing the party would not be a factor in when he would call an election.
Sinn Féin is under pressure over remarks from party leader Mary Lou McDonald where she praised resigning senator Niall Ó Donnghaile last December.
It emerged on Tuesday that Mr Ó Donnghaile was suspended from the party the previous September when Sinn Féin learned he had sent inappropriate text messages to a 17-year-old male party member.
That party member contacted Sinn Féin asking for the contact to stop, triggering a formal party procedure .
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In October last year he signaled to the party that he intended to resign from Sinn Féin and as a senator.
When he announced his resignation from the Seanad last December, party leader Mary Lou McDonald made public remarks praising Mr Ó Donnghaile’s contributions in politics and expressing the hope that he can “overcome the health challenges that he has had to deal with over the past number of months”.
Ms McDonald said on Tuesday that the party had received legal advice against naming Mr Ó Donnghaile as there was no charge brought against him after the matter was referred to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
She also said it did not inform the Oireachtas of the circumstances around the resignation as he was suffering a mental health crisis following the complaint.
Sinn Féin has since faced political charges that it may have misled the Oireachtas about the circumstances of Mr Ó Donnghaile’s resignation.
“It’s clear that the Oireachtas and the people of Ireland were duped, that much is clear,” Mr Harris said, speaking during a visit to Brussels.
“How the leader of Sinn Féin wishes to respond to that is for her and how the people of Ireland wish to respond will be a matter for them to consider,” he said.
Ms McDonald was not the only Sinn Féin politician to make public remarks on Mr Ó Donnghaile’s resignation from the Seanad.
In January Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan – then a Senator – paid tribute to him during Seanad proceedings where tributes were being made to Independent Senator David Norris who had separately announced his retirement.
Along with remarks praising Mr Norris, Ms Boylan said she also wanted to wish Mr Ó Donnghaile well.
She said Mr Ó Donnghaile was “a strong voice for equality, for inclusion, a Gaeilgeoir, passionate about the Irish language... the Good Friday Agreement, and for those who live in the North and always constantly bringing the issues to this House and making us all aware.”
Ms Boylan and Sinn Féin did not respond to queries from The Irish Times on the extent of her knowledge about the circumstances of Mr Ó Donnghaile’s resignation at the time she made her remarks in the Seanad.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin has faced questions over a separate controversy over its handling of a complaint made about former TD Brian Stanley who quit the party last weekend.
Mr Stanley has since accused Ms McDonald of abusing Dáil privilege “in a desperate attempt to shift the focus” away from her party.
Ms McDonald told the Dáil on Tuesday that the woman who made the original complaint about the Laois-Offaly TD had been left “traumatised”. She later said Mr Stanley needed to “account” for his “behaviour” and that the complaint was “serious.”
In a statement, Mr Stanley said he believed Ms McDonald was trying to shift the focus “from her own party’s practices regarding a ‘complaint’ against me, the contents of which I refute”.
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