Dáil committee to decide on child protection statements

The Dáil's business committee will convene tomorrow to decide when statements should be made regarding child protection next week, arising from Sinn Féin's handling of child sex abuse allegations.

It is expected the committee, which meets at 3pm, will decide to allocate time next week.

Yesterday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described the providing of work references by two former party press officers for Michael McMonagle, who was then under investigation for child sexual offences, as unacceptable and reprehensible.

Last month, McMonagle, 42, from Limewood Street, Derry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity. He will be sentenced in November.

He was first arrested in August 2021 and Sinn Féin has said it suspended him as soon as it became aware of the police investigation.

His term of employment with Sinn Féin at the Assembly formally ended in July 2022.

McMonagle then went on to get a job with the British Heart Foundation, which did not know he was under investigation for child sex offences.

Sinn Féin has been under mounting pressure after it emerged that two former party press officers provided references for McMonagle in 2022 for the BHF job.

Ms McDonald was responding to Government Chief Whip Hildegarde Naughton, who wanted the Dáil Business Committee to urgently arrange a time for Dáil statements on child protection issues.

In a statement, Sinn Féin said: "If the Government wants a debate on child protection we welcome that. We will set out how Sinn Féin has acted decisively and held people to account when guilty of gross misconduct.

"The Taoiseach and Tánaiste will also need to set out what sanctions they applied when senior members of their parties wrote references for child abusers and sex offenders."