World of Politics with Harry McGee

I was at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis only a few weeks ago when the party’s strategists were telling me then that they sensed the party was on the way back; that it would recover all the lost ground and put the poor results of the summer elections again.

That now seems like a lifetime away.

Since then, the party has imploded with a series of high-profile resignations and scandals that has left Sinn Féin’s reputation in tatters, and disturbing questions about how the party deals with sexual crime, inappropriate behaviour, and internal disputes.

First there was the Michael McMonagle case; he resigned from the party in 2021 after police investigated allegations that he had tried to induce a child into sexual activity.

Two senior press officers from the party wrote McMonagle references which got him a job the following year with the British Heart Foundation. Neither made reference to the serious charges McMonagle faced.

When the BHF found out that he had been charged in August 2023, it contacted the human resources director in Sinn Fein who apparently told nobody.

It was only after McMonagle’s conviction last month, seemingly, that the party leadership found out about the reference letters, and the BHF’s contact with the human resources director. Leading figures then blamed the BHF for not carrying out adequate safeguarding (it didn’t have to as McMonagle’s job was not child facing).

Within a week, its Kildare South TD Patricia Ryan resigned from the party. She was one of the Deputies who came from nowhere to win a seat in the 2020 election. Ryan wasn’t actually around for much of the campaign in 2020, as she went on a family holiday.

The pretext for her resignation was an internal split in Co Kildare as well as her impression that the leadership wanted her to be replaced with another candidate.

There were accusations that delegates to a clear-the-air meeting in Kildare with Mary Lou McDonald had their questions vetted beforehand to ensure there were only positive questions. Ryan also complained that her social media posts and her public pronouncement were vetted.

Pictured: Implosion…Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.