Mary Lou McDonald is coming under further pressure to issue an apology to a teenager who was sent “inappropriate” texts by a former Sinn Féin senator.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has accused the Sinn Féin leader of being “silent” on the calls from the young person at the centre of the matter to apologise to him for the handling of the incident.
The teenager told the Sunday Independent that he was 16 when he received what he described as “inappropriate messages” from Niall O Donnghaile last year.
Speaking at the launch of the Dublin City Taskforce report, Mr Harris said he wants to know what the Sinn Féin leader will do following the teenager’s statement to the newspaper.
“We have a situation where, in the last 24 hours, not Fine Gael, not Fianna Fáil, not the Green Party, not any politician in Dáil Éireann, a victim, a teenage boy, has described in a national newspaper how he was mentally stabbed, not by anybody other than the leader of Sinn Féin, by her actions,” Mr Harris said.
“He has called, not by only political opponent, he, the victim, a teenage boy, has called for the leader of the Opposition to directly and sincerely – his words – apologise to him.”
The Fine Gael leader also accused Ms McDonald of spending the last few days demanding an apology for the opening monologue on Friday’s Late Late Show.
Comedian and TV host Patrick Kielty linked the republican party to the hit show The Traitors in the opening minutes of the show last Friday.
Party TDs have been calling for an apology from RTÉ.
“Does the leader of Sinn Féin, who spent the entire weekend engaging in a pile on (on the) media, in relation to an apology that she wanted for some satire that may or may not have been funny or not – I didn’t see it – in relation to the Late Late Show.
“They were out in force demanding an apology over satire. Silent in relation to an apology that a victim who received inappropriate texts from an adult elected representative of the Oireachtas had sought.
“So that’s for Sinn Féin to reflect on. I’d like to know today, does the leader of Sinn Féin intend to do as that victim asked? Because I thought, from listening to her in the past, from listening to all of us in the past, I thought we now adopt a victim-centred approach to these issues.”
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman described Ms McDonald’s judgement around the time of Mr O Donnghaile’s resignation as “flawed”.
Last week, Mr O Donnghaile acknowledged he quit Sinn Féin last year after the party received complaints that he had sent inappropriate texts to a teenage party member.
The party leader has been widely criticised for a statement she released following his resignation.
Mr O’Gorman said: “In terms of the focus on the statement that Deputy McDonald put out at the time that Senator O Donnghaile resigned, I still feel her judgement was flawed there, in terms of the level of praise she heaped upon him in light of the reason that he was leaving Sinn Féin.
“I think the opportunity to clarify the point, particularly on the age of the victim in this, when these texts were sent, I think there may be an opportunity for Deputy McDonald to clarify the record of the house.”
The government leaders also appeared to row back from any plans to block the nomination of Mairead Farrell as chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following the removal of Brian Stanley from the committee.
The Dáil will this week consider a motion to make Ms Farrell the chairwoman of the committee.
Mr Harris said the government is not “overly concerned” about Oireachtas committee chairs, particularly when the lifetime of the Dáil is limited.
“Deputy Farrell is a very competent individual in her own right,” he added.
“There’s a very competent vice chair of that committee in Deputy (Catherine) Murphy, the committee is always chaired by the opposition.
“We may or may not have an opportunity to discuss that tonight. It’s certainly not the most pressing issue on my agenda this evening.
“I’m not sure it’s the most pressing issue on the agenda for others. We have a lot of things we want to talk about.”
Mr O’Gorman agreed with Mr Harris’s comments, saying he will speak to the Green Party whip Marc O Cathasaigh about the issue later on Monday.
