Sinn Fein governance review to report before Christmas – McDonald

A review of governance procedures in Sinn Fein prompted by child safeguarding concerns should deliver a report before Christmas, party president Mary Lou McDonald has said.

The party has been beset by a series of controversies in recent months, regarding allegations of inappropriate behaviour involving party members and elected representatives.

Last month, party president Ms McDonald announced a “complete overhaul” of the party’s governance procedures, as she apologised for its handling of a sex crime investigation into a former press officer.

Michael McMonagle, 43, from Limewood Street in Londonderry, was sentenced at Derry Crown Court to nine months in custody and nine months under statutory supervision, after pleading guilty to a series of child sex offences.

The case plunged Sinn Fein into controversy as the party faced questions about safeguarding, and how two other party press officers provided references for McMonagle, while he was under police investigation, for a subsequent job with the British Heart Foundation.

On the Pat Kenny show on Newstalk, Ms McDonald denied a suggestion that the review had become “chaotic”.

She added: “We had a series of challenging events which had to be dealt with.

“In the course of that, and I would say in each of those cases I ensured accountability and consequences for people whose behaviour was not up to standard.

“In the course of that a number of gaps in our oversight mechanisms emerged and as the leader of the party I have moved to correct that.

“I will, I hope, have a report back from that process this side of Christmas.”

Ms McDonald also said she had not watched the Disney+ show Say Nothing, which portrays the murder and secret burial of Jean McConville by the IRA in 1972.

She was asked if she believed she should watch the show, which features actor Josh Finan as Gerry Adams, the former Sinn Fein leader.

Ms McDonald said: “No, I don’t believe so.

“I think what people recognise is that now in the year 2024, heading into 2025, 26 years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, entire generations have been born and have grown up on an island that is peaceful.

“I think that is something to be celebrated. I take great heart and great pride in that, and the past has to be acknowledged, but the past is the past.”

Despite persistent allegations, Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or having any involvement in the abduction and murder of Ms McConville.

In 2014 he was arrested by detectives investigating the murder. He was questioned for four days before being released without charge.