Press secretary says Kenny had not seen photographs of Michaela McAreavey

Taoiseach Enda Kenny was sent an email last Sunday with an attachment containing murder scene images from Mauritius of Michaela McAreavey before he issued a statement condemning their publication earlier that day in a Mauritian newspaper.

Following some confusion and conflicting statements yesterday as to whether or not the Taoiseach had in fact seen the photographs, the Government press secretary last night moved to clarify the matter, asserting that Mr Kenny had not seen them.

The clarification contradicted an earlier briefing given by the press secretary when he stated that the Taoiseach had seen the images.

The press secretary said that he had obtained the images on Sunday by email and had forwarded them on to the Taoiseach.

He said the confusion arose because he had made an assumption that Mr Kenny had seen the photographs in the email attachment.

However, he had not put it directly to the Taoiseach whether this was indeed the case.

“The Taoiseach did not see the photographs,” he said last night. “He was briefed on the nature of the photographs. On that basis he decided the action he wanted to take.”