August 20th: 2021: Michael McMonagle informs Sinn Féin of his arrest by police the previous day. He tells them that he was questioned about serious criminal offences of a child protection nature. He is suspended from his job as a press officer.
June 2022: His employment in Sinn Féin ends when his contract expires.
September 2022: The British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity appoints McMonagle as its communication manager after receiving two professional references from Sinn Féin press officer colleagues, Séan Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley. Neither reference “raises concerns about his suitability for employment or references the ongoing police investigation or suspension from his previous employment”, according to BHF.
February 2023: McMonagle attends BHF event at Stormont with family of Dáithí Mac Gabhann, a seven-year-old boy waiting on a heart transplant who is at the centre of an organ donation campaign. First Minister Michelle O’Neill also attends but said she was not aware McMonagle was present after a photograph emerges of them just feet apart in Stormont’s Great Hall.
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July 2023: McMonagle, from Limewood Street, Derry, appears in court charged with child sex offences.
July 31st, 2023: BHF suspends McMonagle after being alerted to his arrest and criminal charges following a media query. It alerts the Police Service of Northern Ireland and offers his work laptop and mobile to assist the investigation
August 3rd, 2023: BHF has “email dialogue” with a senior (now former) Sinn Féin HR official as part of an internal review into McMonagle’s recruitment. The emails state that BHF received two references from the party almost a year earlier.
September 23rd, 2024: McMonagle pleads guilty to 14 charges, including two charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
September 25th, 2024: Sinn Féin says it became aware of references given to McMonagle only following a media query. It orders an internal disciplinary process. Before the process concludes, Mag Uidhir and McGinley resign from their positions and party membership with immediate effect.
October 2nd, 2024: Michelle O’Neill tells reporters she was “aghast and horrified” after being informed about the references. She insists McMonagle wasn’t on her “radar at all” following his suspension.
October 3rd, 2024: PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher contradicts claims made by Sinn Féin economy minister Conor Murphy, who defended the party’s decision not to warn the BHF about McMonagle’s arrest and suspension on the grounds it could prejudice a police investigation. “I don’t see how it would prejudice an investigation,” Boutcher tell reporters.
October 4th, 2024: It emerges that Sinn Féin failed to return McMonagle’s security pass to Stormont Parliament Buildings or inform the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission of his arrest or the police investigation. His Assembly pass was cancelled by the commission on October 1st, 2024 “in light of recent circumstances”.
October 4th, 2024: Stormont justice minister Naomi Long criticises Sinn Féin for failing to alert the BHF to McMonagle’s arrest and suspension, saying it was a “significant question that they need to reflect on whether that was appropriate or not”.
October 6th, 2024: Fearghal McKinney, head of the BHF in Northern Ireland, speaks to Michelle O’Neill on Saturday and says she expressed regret over comments she made last week that there were lessons for a lot of people in terms of “due diligence for an employer when they take on an employee”.
October 6th, 2024: Michelle O’Neill describes the failure of the party’s former HR manager to inform her and the party’s leadership about being contacted by the BHF in August 2023 as a “serious omission”. She apologises on behalf of the party for the “hurt and distress” caused by the actions of Mag Uidhir and McGinley. She says that the issue of child safeguarding is of “paramount importance” and pledges to ensure “that a situation like this will never arise again”
October 7th, 2024: Michelle O’Neill is summoned before Northern Ireland Assembly after urgent question, submitted by DUP MLA Diane Dodds, asks if confidence in her office as First Minister has been diminished.
October 7th, 2024: Fearghal McKinney says BHF has suffered reputational damage over the matter. He adds that questions over its due diligence in employing McMonagle have caused “enormous distress and anxiety among our staff”.
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