The long-awaited report into complaints against First Minister Michelle O’Neill has finally landed, and has concluded that there is no evidence that she misled The Executive Office Committee or breached the Ministerial Code of Conduct. While Sinn Féin will no doubt welcome the findings, the wider controversy surrounding employment references for Michael McMonagle has left a bitter taste, and significant questions remain about the party’s internal processes and transparency.
At the heart of this investigation were two allegations: first, that Michelle O’Neill had misled the committee when she said she did not know McMonagle’s whereabouts following his suspension from Sinn Féin in 2021; and second, that she had been less than forthcoming about when she became aware of employment references provided by two senior party members.
On the first point, the complaint centred on a photograph taken in Stormont’s Great Hall in February 2023, showing O’Neill standing just metres away from McMonagle. Many, including TUV MLA Timothy Gaston, argued that this contradicted her claim of having had no contact with him. However, the Commissioner’s investigation found that while the image may have raised suspicions, it did not amount to proof that the two interacted. Given the nature of how busy Stormont was on that day, the First Minister’s explanation that she was focused on a meeting with the McGabhann family and did not see McMonagle was deemed credible.
The second allegation, raised by Doug Beattie, was perhaps the more politically damaging of the two. The references given by former Sinn Féin press officers Caolán McGinley and Séan Mag Uidhir for McMonagle, without any mention of his suspension or the ongoing police investigation, raised serious ethical concerns. Doug Beattie argued that Michelle O’Neill’s claim that she only became aware of the issue in late September 2024 was “not credible” and went against the principles of openness and transparency expected of government ministers.
Yet the investigation found no evidence that Michelle O’Neill was informed earlier. In fact, the Commissioner’s findings suggest that Sinn Féin’s internal communication on this matter was either shockingly poor or deliberately opaque. The former Sinn Féin HR director engaged in email exchanges about the references with the British Heart Foundation in August 2023, but at no point did they alert Michelle O’Neill or other senior party figures. If this was an attempt to contain the scandal before it reached the leadership, it failed spectacularly.
The Commissioner’s ruling is a vindication for Michelle O’Neill personally, but it does not exonerate Sinn Féin as a party. The fact remains that two senior members provided references for a suspended colleague without informing anyone and that Sinn Féin’s HR department was aware of inquiries about these references for over a year before the First Minister was informed. These are not the actions of a party operating with full transparency.
While Michelle O’Neill may have been cleared of wrongdoing, the political damage has already been done. At a time when trust in politics is already fragile, this saga has reinforced public cynicism about how parties handle internal crises. However, by the time the next election rolls around in 2027, this is unlikely to have any bearing on how Sinn Féin will perform at the polls.
The question now is whether Sinn Féin will take this as a wake-up call to improve internal accountability, as they have already indicated they would, or if it will simply breathe a sigh of relief and move on.
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