Mary Lou McDonald is asked to correct Dáil record over inappropriate Niall Ó Donnghaile texts

MARY LOU MCDONALD has come under increased pressure over the resignation of former Sinn Fein senator Niall Ó Donnghaile and the handling of inappropriate text messages he sent to a teenager.

Speaking in the Dáil earlier this week, McDonald detailed the matter and said that the teenage boy who had received the text messages had been 17 years old. 

In the Sunday Independent today, the teenage boy in question, who was a member of Ógra Shinn Féin, said that he had been 16 at the time of the text messages.

Due to the disparity in the age referred to by the Sinn Féin leader in the Dáil and what the teenager has said today, Fine Gael Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill issued a call for McDonald to correct the Dáil record.

“For more than a year, Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin have attempted to hide the reasons as to why their former Senator Niall Ó Donnghaile was sacked for ‘unacceptable behaviours’ by the party and instead preferred to provide him with cover and glowing public references.

Last week, the Sinn Féin leader admitted after repeated questioning, incorrectly, that a 17-year-old made a complaint about an inappropriate message from their party leader in the Seanad.

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In the Dáil last week, McDonald said Sinn Féin had referred the matter to the PSNI to investigate and that “no finding of illegality and no criminal charges were pursued.” 

In her statement today, McCarroll MacNeill asked why the matter hadn’t been referred to the gardaí.

Speaking on today’s This Week in Politics, Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly said that the matter had been immediately referred to the PSNI, as it had occurred in the north.

O’Reilly was also asked if McDonald should correct the Dáil record on the matter of the individual’s age. 

O’Reilly responded: “The information that was given to us by the young person was that they were 17 and that’s what was in Mary Lou McDonald’s speech on Tuesday of this week. That was the information that we had as we understood it. 

“She gave the information accurate as she knew it at the time.”

- With reporting by Rónán Duffy

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