Two Sinn Féin press officers have resigned after referring to a colleague convicted of sex offences… – Slugger O’Toole

From the BBC:

Seán Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley resigned at the weekend just days after it emerged the pair had given references to former Sinn Féin press secretary Michael McMonagle for a job at a charity .

Earlier this month McMonagle, of Limewood Street in Londonderry, admitted a string of offenses including attempting to induce a child to engage in sexual activity.

Sinn Féin claims the references were provided without the party’s authorization and describes their actions as wrong and unacceptable.

According to Sinn Féin, the professional references were provided three months after McMonagle was sacked from the party while he was under police investigation.

“The references were not provided by or on behalf of Sinn Féin,” a party spokesperson said.

“Permission was not sought and would not have been granted to the party for the provision of these references or their content. »

The party said it only became aware of the references last week and had launched an internal process.

“Prior to the conclusion of this process, the two press officers resigned from their positions and party membership with immediate effect,” the spokesperson added.

There was no comment from Seán Mag Uidhir or Caolán McGinley.

Former republican prisoner Seán Mag Uidhir was a senior party official and previously worked for the republican newspaper An Phoblacht.

McMonagle was first arrested in August 2021 – he informed the party and was suspended from his post as press secretary at Stormont.

In September 2022, Seán Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley provided references to McMonagle for employment at the British Heart Foundation.

The references described McMonagle’s work in Sinn Féin.

He pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in court last week and is expected to be sentenced in November.

Although they were key figures, they discovered a fundamental rule of Sinn Féin: no one is bigger than the party.

I help run Slugger by looking after the site as well as organizing our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tends towards intermediate pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I’m not very interested in day-to-day politics, preferring to write about the big ideas of society. When I’m not stuck in front of a screen, I’m a parkrun race director.