Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly has confirmed she employed a woman convicted by the Special Criminal Court of unlawful possession of firearms for six months in 2018, shortly after the woman’s release from prison.
Ursula Ní Shionnain was sentenced to six years in jail in 2014. A prominent member of the socialist republican party, Éirigí, she and three men had been arrested in 2012 by gardaí outside a firearms dealer’s premises in Tullamore, Co Offaly. She served a total of four and a half years.
When contacted by The Irish Times on Wednesday, Ms Ní Shionnain declined to comment.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Claire Byrne show on Thursday morning, Ms Connolly said Ms Ní Shionnain had served her time and had worked for her for six months in Leinster House. “She was absolutely perfect for the job, and I took her on,” she said.
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“I’m particularly proud that I represent a society that gives people a second chance, a society that shows care and compassion. It’s really important. We can’t have it every way.”
She said Ms Ní Shionnain had served her time, had been released early and had been a model prisoner. Asked if she supported Éirigí, which campaigned against the Belfast Agreement, she said she did not.
Ms Connolly said a number of people recommended Ms O’Shionnain, “but Éamon Ó Cuív in particular”.
Asked if it was Mr Ó Cuívwho came to her about Ms Ni Shionnain, she said no, that she had gone to Mr Ó Cuív after Ms Ni Shionnain had been mentioned to her by the then independent TD, Clare Daly.
After her release in 2018, Ms Ní Shionnain, a fluent Irish speaker with a doctorate in the language, worked with Ms Connolly as an intern for six months, gaining access to the campus by getting an accredited staff member or politician to sign her in.
Ms Connolly said that she had to sign her in and out each day.
She said the process to vet new employees took a considerable amount of time. She also said she did not intervene on behalf of Ms Ní Shionnain, or make any appeal on her behalf.
“The process just went on and on, and in the end, the person left. My contact was simply with the superintendent (head of security in Leinster House).
“I had no control of the process, no influence over the process. My only intervention was to say: when is the process going to be completed?”.
The Fianna Fáil TD, Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who was Ceann Comhairle at the time, said it became known in 2018 that a person working for Ms Connolly was being signed in to Leinster House each day, rather than using a regular pass. Mr Ó Fearghaíl said he was no longer aware of the identity of the person.
“She presented herself more or less on a day-by-day visitor basis. When it became obvious that she was there on an ongoing basis, she was asked would she submit to the normal kind of certification process for employees,” he said.
“Before that happened, she left of her own volition.”
Former Fianna Fáil TD, Mr Ó Cuív, who visited Ms Ní Shionnain when she was serving her sentence in Limerick Prison, said he later met her in Leinster House when she was working for Ms Connolly. He described Ms Ní Shionnain, who is now a language planning officer in Co Meath, as a fine person and a first-rate academic and Irish language activist.”
“I don’t think there is anything to this,” he said. “When it is investigated it will turn into a ball of smoke.”
Several TDs pointed out that a number of people convicted of IRA offences have served as public representatives as well as being employees of political parties.
Ms Ní Shionnain, from Clonsilla in Dublin, is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and also completed an MA in language planning from the University of Galway. She has since completed a PhD in UCC.
When contacted by The Irish Times she said “Níl aon rud le rá agam” (I have no comment to make).
A statement from the Connolly campaign on Thursday said the former prisoner had been recommended for the administrative role by by Mr Ó Cuív, who had come to know her in the course of his prison outreach work.
Ms Connolly stated: “I took careful time to reflect on this hire. I discussed this with TDs, who were part of a committee that visited Republican prisoners. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in giving someone a chance in life. My whole life, public life, has been devoted to raising my voice for those that didn’t have a chance and those that committed crimes and then a chance for rehabilitation.
“This person realised what they had done was utterly wrong, rehabilitated themselves with the help of the services in the prison, and has gone on to greater things.
“I absolutely regret that she’s been dragged into this in such a public way.”
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the matter was “very serious” and Ms Connolly needed to clarify the circumstances. The details reported in the media would “indicate a very serious lack of judgment” on the part of the left-wing candidate, the Fianna Fáil leader said.
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the worker was “highly qualified and came through the process”.
A spokeswoman for the Social Democrats, one of the parties supporting Ms Connolly’s presidential bid, said it was appropriate that there are rigorous vetting procedures for Oireachtas staff.
“Ms Ní Shionnain has now turned her life around and recently appeared as an expert before an Oireachtas committee,” she said.
The party’s justice spokesman Gary Gannon said she had served her prison sentence and should not have been precluded on that basis.
Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman, whose party is supporting Ms Connolly’s campaign for president, said that he would have put a “greater emphasis” on the severity of the person’s conviction, given that they would be working in Leinster House.
Mr O’Gorman added, however, Ms Connolly had given the issue serious consideration, and she is someone who has “not just talked the talk, but walked the walk” in relation to criminal justice and rehabilitation.
Fine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys said it was “a very serious issue”.
“This person was a member of Éirígí. Of course, that is the organisation that tried to dismantle the Good Friday Agreement.
“She obviously was working in the Houses of the Oireachtas for six months. My concern here, and I think Catherine does need to explain this, is how come she [this woman] had access to the Oireachtas without Garda clearance.”
