Fresh footage has emerged of Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill believed to have been filmed by Michael McMonagle in Parliament Buildings while he was under investigation by police.
It confirms again that the first minister designate and one of her aides were just feet from the suspected sex offender, who at the time was employed by the British Heart Foundation.
At one point Ms O’Neill’s special adviser John Loughran looks directly into the camera held by McMonagle.
The first minister has said neither she nor any Sinn Féin representative saw the former party press officer at the Parliament Buildings event in February last year supporting organ donation opt-out legislation.
McMonagle’s employment with Sinn Féin had ended nine months previously after the party learned he was being investigated for sexual offences. In his role as the British Heart Foundation’s communications and engagement officer, he tasks included videoing events for social media postings.
A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation said on Wednesday: “The video that was shared on our social media account was filmed by a member of the BHF media team.”
Ms O’Neill last week told Stormont’s Executive Office committee there had been no engagement at the event with anybody from the British Heart Foundation but on Monday in the Assembly she asked for the record to be corrected after footage emerged of her speaking to the charity’s chief executive Fearghal McKinney.
She acknowledged that people would doubt she had not seen McMonagle, who had been a key member of Sinn Féin’s Stormont media team and employed by the then deputy first minister for three months up to May 2020.
Ms O’Neill told MLAs: “...from that angle... it looks perhaps that I should have seen him”.
Sinn Féin press officers Seán Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley resigned from the party less than a fortnight ago in the midst of an internal investigation into why they supplied references for McMonagle to the British Heart Foundation.
In July 2023, when McMonagle was first charged, the charity contacted Sinn Féin’s human resources manager, who is no longer employed by the party, to verify the references. The human resources manager, who remains a member of Sinn Féin, did not tell the party about the two references.
Last month, 42-year-old McMonagle from Limewood Street in Derry, admitted a series of offences, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
DUP Strangford MLA and Executive Office committee member, Harry Harvey said: “There are now a series of photographs and videos of Sinn Féin members all within a few feet of Michael McMonagle, and in the latest example, looking directly at the camera McMonagle was holding.
“This will undoubtedly be yet another issue that needs to be explored if the first minister, junior minister and their special adviser come before the Executive Office committee.”
