Michelle O'Neill defends Mary Lou McDonald as deputy First Minister calls for 'grubbiness' to be addressed

First Minister Michelle O'Neill
-Credit: (Image: Rebecca Black/PA Wire)


First Minister Michelle O'Neill has defended her party leader over how she has handled a series of scandals which have engulfed the party in recent weeks.

O'Neill was speaking after the latest scandal saw former Belfast Lord Mayor Niall Ó Donnghaile unmasked as having sent "inappropriate" messages to a teenager and an adult male.

Michelle O’Neill said that there was “complete due diligence” in how the party handled the Ó Donnghaile case and that everything the party knows “is now on the public record”.

Read more: Mary Lou McDonald confirms party received multiple complaints against Niall Ó Donnghaile

Read more: Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald accused of 'elaborate cover-up' over Niall Ó Donnghaile resignation

“Mary Lou (McDonald) has set out very categorically everything that we knew and when we knew it in the Dail statement yesterday,” she said.

“She set out in terms of the internal party processes that we went through. I’m very confident that we had complete due diligence in terms of how we handled that case.

“She’s also set out in terms of the aftermath of that, the fact that there were no criminal proceedings brought against Niall Ó Donnghaile himself, and we were very conscious in terms of legal advice that was sought, in terms of naming the individual himself. I think that we can confidently stand over the approach that we took to that.

“As I said, from day one, we’ve set out to try to be as transparent as we can in terms of setting out all of the facts. I’ve done that in the Assembly chamber last week, Mary Lou did it again yesterday in the Dáil, and that remains our approach. We’ve always wanted to be as frank as we possibly can with everybody and answer all the questions that people have put to us.”

Michelle O’Neill said that there are “no questions” over Mary Lou McDonald’s leadership of Sinn Féin and that she would be “transparent and open” in answering questions about the controversies that have come to light in recent weeks.

“No there are no questions over Mary Lou McDonald’s leadership,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

“I think the Dáil was the right opportunity yesterday, and Niall (Ó Donnghaile) himself, he made a public statement in advance of Mary Lou going into the Dáil chamber for a fuller statement.”

She indicated that there were “no other” cases of party members under investigation or suspended.

“But there certainly are no other terms of other cases that we are currently engaged in, so just to be very clear about that.”

Asked about whether she would give statements in the Northern Ireland Assembly on child protection issues, she said: “I’ve stood in front of the Assembly chamber last week. I think I took in excess of, or perhaps potentially up to, 20 questions. I’m trying to be as transparent and open and frank as I possibly can.

“I was before the Assembly committee also, so I’ll continue in that vein.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has described as “very grubby” the controversies surrounding Sinn Fein in recent weeks.

The DUP MLA said that information has been “trickling out” when there is a need for honesty.

“I think there are very serious questions for Sinn Féin to answer. I think the whole thing’s been very grubby,” she said on Wednesday.

“I think people are fed up and sick of half truths or not truths or issues trickling out.

“If there’s one thing that we have learned right across Northern Ireland, and indeed right across Ireland, is this idea of cover ups or not being truthful, the lack of transparency when it comes to the safeguarding of children is deeply unacceptable.

“We are supposed to have learned the lessons from the past in terms of some of those issues, and now it is really important that everybody steps up with full transparency, absolutely honestly and transparently answers the most serious questions.”

Emma Little-Pengelly said that while “the grubbiness” of the controversies Sinn Fein has been embroiled in need to be addressed, she indicated the institutions were not at risk.

She said that First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Féin “need to step up and be absolutely transparent and honest”.

“Ultimately, this isn’t a crisis of the institutions. It’s a crisis within Sinn Féin,” the deputy First Minister said.

Sinn Féin need to get their house in order. No organisation should be operating with a cloak of secrecy.

“We are not and nor should there be criminal organisations which have some sort of a code of silence. We need to step up and show that transparency, the grubbiness of this needs to be addressed, the serious questions need to be answered.”

Asked whether Ms O’Neill should answer more questions in the Assembly chamber, she said: “I think that there are mechanisms there to hold people to account.

“I know that right across that Assembly chamber, there are many people who are seriously concerned about the issues of safeguarding of children.

“We’ve had a number of big inquiries in Northern Ireland. We’re still working on a number of those investigations and inquiries through the Executive office, and therefore it is even more important that we do step up and show example.”

She said: “I think that this issue generally has come across as grubby. It has come across as unacceptable because of the way that this information has trickled out.”

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our politics newsletter here.