Sinn Féin should correct the Dáil record over a claim by party president Mary Lou McDonald that a teenager who was texted by a former senator was 17, the Taoiseach has said.
Simon Harris said Ms McDonald should also issue a sincere apology to the young person at the centre of the case.
The teenager told the Sunday Independent that he was 16 when he received what he described as “inappropriate messages” from Niall Ó Donnghaile last year.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Sunday about Ms McDonald’s assertion, Mr Harris said: “Of course she should correct the Dáil record.
“But much more importantly than that she should respond directly to the young teenager who was a victim of unsolicited and inappropriate contact by an elected Sinn Féin representative.”
Mr Harris’ Fine Gael party has said the difference between the ages of 16 and 17 is an important issue in respect of the application of child protection laws.
On Sunday, Sinn Féin TD Louise O’Reilly reiterated a party apology to the young person for the hurt caused by the messages.
But she said Ms McDonald’s statement to the Dáil last week, saying that he was 17, was based on information she understood to be accurate.
She insisted the party had therefore no requirement to correct the Dáil record.
“So 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,” she told RTÉ One’s The Week in Politics programme.
“That was the information that we had. It was as we understood it, and there’s no further action required.”
Last week, Mr Ó Donnghaile acknowledged he quit Sinn Féin last year after the party received complaints that he had sent inappropriate texts to a teenage party member.
Sinn Féin has said it referred the matter to the PSNI and social services immediately last September, but no criminal investigation was pursued after police deemed that there had been no illegality.
It is believed that the messages, while personal in nature, were not sexually explicit.
Mr Ó Donnghaile stepped down from the Seanad three months after Sinn Féin had referred the issue to the authorities.
When he left last December, his departure was attributed to health issues. Ms McDonald told the Dáil last week that the true reasons were not made public because of concerns about the mental wellbeing of the former Belfast lord mayor.
The party president also told the Oireachtas that the teenager was 17 at the time of the incident.
In a statement to the paper, the young person said he was 16 at the time.
He also called on Ms McDonald to apologise for Sinn Féin’s “disastrous handling” of the case.
The teenager said comments by the party president when Mr Ó Donnghaile quit in December amounted to a “glowing” public tribute and it felt to him like a “mental stab”.
In the statement printed by the newspaper, the young person described having to “silently endure watching” as the senator’s resignation was attributed to “health reasons”.
He said that took him “to dark spaces, at a time when I was supposed to be enjoying starting sixth form and living a normal teenage life”.
In the statement to the paper, he said: “I lost essential and precious time in my teenage life and, for that, I believe Mary Lou McDonald owes me and those affected by this disastrous handling of the situation a direct and sincere apology.
“I told the party when I reported the incident that I ‘wanted it all to stop’.
“Unfortunately this situation will never stop – truly stop at all, in my mind – unless an apology is given.”
Ms McDonald, in a statement to the Sunday Independent, apologised that her words last December marking Mr Ó Donnghaile’s resignation caused distress to the teenager.
“That was not my intention,” she said.
In regard to the messages, she said she was “deeply sorry and angry that this young person had to endure this inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour”.
The party president added: “All child protection protocols were followed with an immediate referral to the PSNI and social services. The protection of the young person was our primary concern.
“Niall Ó Donnghaile was held accountable and faced serious consequences for his unacceptable and inappropriate behaviour.”
Mr Harris said a “sincere and direct apology” from Ms McDonald to the teenager was the very least she should do.
“She should really focus on the very serious issue today of the teenager asking her to make a sincere and direct apology,” he said.
On Sunday, Fianna Fáil Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said Sinn Féin appeared to be prioritising the party over the young person.
“Unfortunately, what would seem to be the case here, that it would appear more that the party was put at the centre (rather than the teenager),” he told The Week in Politics.
Fine Gael minister of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill accused Ms McDonald of giving “completely wrong information” to the Dáil. She also called on her to correct the record.
“Despite Sinn Féin repeatedly giving the false age at the time of the communications and complaint, we have established, through the teen himself, he was 16,” she said.
“Why did Sinn Féin continue to push this falsehood? Why didn’t they alert An Garda Síochána as to the activities of their senator?”
She added: “Sinn Féin couldn’t even be bothered to verify the details on the minor before alerting northern authorities. Sixteen is a child, north and south. For child protection rules, north and south.”
Ms O’Reilly said Sinn Féin had alerted the PSNI rather than the gardaí because she said the messages had been sent in Northern Ireland.
She said Ms McDonald had been told the young person was 17.
“She gave the information accurate as she knew it at the time and based on information that had been given to us by the young person,” Ms O’Reilly told RTÉ.
The Dublin Fingal TD reiterated the party apology to the teenager.
“Mary Lou has apologised for all of the hurt that was caused and we do and I do so again,” she said.
“I am very hurt and very angry on behalf of this young person, but I can tell you that when the referral was made, it was made immediately to the authorities.
“The moment the party was informed of this, an immediate referral to the PSNI was made.
“And Niall Ó Donnghaile is now no longer a member of Sinn Féin. He holds no elected office. He has lost his job. He has lost his career. That sanction is entirely appropriate.”
Ms O’Reilly also denied that Ms McDonald’s comments about Mr Ó Donnghaile’s resignation were “glowing”.
“There was no glowing reference given,” she said.
“A statement of six lines outlining former senator Ó Donnghaile’s career, summing it up, that is all that it was.
“There was no glowing tribute. There was no effusive statement and there was certainly no reference given.
“Niall Ó Donnghaile has paid a very high price for his actions and that is entirely appropriate.”
