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Man labeled ‘monster’ by Michelle O’Neill leaves former party member with unanswered questions
Michael McMonigle has always seemed like a quiet guy in the press corps.
From his days as a reporter for the Derry Journal to his time in the Sinn Féin press office, he was a man of few words.
We worked in the same patch in the North West and often met at work.
He never hid his republican identity and it was no wonder that he moved from the Journal’s newsroom to Sinn Féin.
But his next career move surprised us all.
‘Monster’
Former Sinn Féin spokesperson Michael McMonagle worked for the party until his arrest on child sex offenses in 2021.
When he turned up at Stormont last year with a British Heart Foundation (BHF) banner, I had no idea he had left Sinn Féin.
The first thing I saw that day was his face.
He said he was looking for a new challenge and was happy to be working for the charity.
Now we know the truth.
At the time, he was being investigated for child sexual abuse and was suspended by Sinn Féin authorities before being prosecuted.
He kept all of this a secret from his new employer.
It was when he appeared in court that the real story came out.
He is now a self-confessed child molester and will be sentenced next month on a series of charges.
The full extent of his crimes will be revealed and it is said that he is already scheduled to receive a custodial sentence.
But the man, described as a “monster” by Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, has left unanswered questions for his former party.
It remains to be seen why Sinn Féin’s most senior spokesperson, Sean Mag Widir, and his colleague Caolan McGinley thought it was okay to provide a reference to a man being investigated for child sex offences.
Why didn’t they consult the party leadership before sending the reference materials?
No explanation has been given by Sinn Féin.
The party also does not explain how it failed to flag the reference when the human resources director was informed of it a year later.
According to O’Neill, it was a “gross omission.”
Although the head of the human resources department maintains his status as a party member, he is no longer working for the party.
An important question then arises – why did the party leadership not know that McMonigle was employed by the BHF?
This is a line the party has stubbornly held to, even though it may seem unbelievable to some.
self-inflicted crisis
Mr McMonagle could not have been more visible at Stormont in February 2023 while working for the BHF.
He was holding a banner outside and was inside filming a video for charity.
Photographs and television footage showed him at times standing just meters away from Mr O’Neill and other Sinn Féin councilors and special advisers.
His presence was not lost on the press pack as we watched and talked about McMonagle’s new role.
However, he was not on Mr O’Neill’s ‘radar’ and there appear to have been no conversations within the Sinn Féin team about his new job with the former press secretary.
That was lucky for the party, because if they had discovered him and it turned out he had gotten a new job at a charity, it would have caused problems.
How could Sinn Féin remain silent about a man they knew was being investigated for child sex offences?
Of course, the party could have argued that McMonagle was not charged with any crime at the time and was innocent.
However, given the nature of the investigation, there may have been a moral obligation to share such information.
Rightly or wrongly, the Sinn Féin leadership had no idea that McMonagle had taken the BHF job, so there was no need to address these major issues.
The party’s most senior press secretary and human resources director were fully aware of Mr McMonagle’s new role.
It remains a big problem for the party.
There are also questions about how Sinn Féin initially responded to the crisis of its own making.
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In retrospect, attacking was not the best form of defense.
It was not a good idea to criticize the BHF for a lack of “due diligence” in the way it hired Mr McMonagle.
There is a clear lack of due diligence and this is not a party currently undergoing a major review of its governance.
Apologies from Mr O’Neill and Conor Murphy have helped mend their relationship with the charity, and both are now determined to move on.
But it was not over yet, and Sinn Féin had now decided that an attack was its best defense against its political opponents.
Party leader Mary Lou McDonald lambasted her opponents in the Dáil (Ireland’s lower house of parliament), and Murphy did the same at Stormont when challenged over the McMonagle affair.
Sinn Féin has warned parties in government about senior figures who have provided references to previously convicted rapists.
She didn’t mention him, but Seán Ó Feargháil was the first thing that came to mind.
In 2006, he served as a court reference for a man who was convicted of raping his nephew and sentenced to six years in prison.
Fianna Fail politicians were criticized by victims and their families.
Mr Murphy referred to the case of a former Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) MP who was jailed for sexually assaulting two girls in 1999.
He remained with the SDLP following his indictment, leaving the party for the first time after his conviction.
No appetite to risk the collapse of Stormont
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More cases are expected to be brought next week as Sinn Féin is challenged again in the Dáil debate.
The party has sent a clear message to those planning to use the case to harm Sinn Féin to “think again” as the Irish Republic election approaches.
At Stormont, this was the first real test for the new executive.
Relations were clearly strained, but there was no appetite to provoke a full-blown crisis and risk further collapse.
How has the situation changed?
