Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has corrected the record of the Dáil about the age of the young person who received inappropriate texts from former senator Niall Ó Donnghaile.
Ms McDonald also told the House that she had written to the young person and their mother “offering a full, unequivocal and sincere apology” for the statement she issued when the former senator resigned and for “the hurt my words caused”.
In a brief statement to the Dáil, Ms McDonald said “the information which I placed on the Dáil record last week relating to an incident where a Sinn Féin representative sent inappropriate text messages to a young person.
“It was then my understanding that the young person was 17 years of age because of the information provided on his application form when he applied to join Ógra Shinn Féin. That information was wrong.
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“The young person themselves have made clear that he was in fact 16 at the time, so I want to correct the Dáil record to reflect that he was in fact 16 years of age when these texts were sent.
“I have now written to the young person and his mother offering a full unequivocal and sincere apology. What happened this young person was wrong.
“Niall Ó Donnghaille’s behaviour was unacceptable, utterly inappropriate, and no young person should have experienced that.”
Ms McDonald added: “I am also very sorry for the hurt that my words caused in the statements that I issued following his resignation that was never ever my intention, and I apologise to that young person for issuing that statement.”
Over the course of the weekend, the former Sinn Féin member confirmed to the media he was 16, and not 17, when Mr Ó Donnghaile sent the texts to him. The teenager also strongly criticised the manner in which Sinn Féin handled the resignation of its Seanad leader, and its absence of any mention of the real reasons for his stepping down. He also asked Ms McDonald to apologise directly to him.
Later, an attempt by Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon to raise the issue again was ruled out of order by Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl.
Mr Cannon last week put on the record of the House that the teenager was 16 when he received the texts. He said “the leader of the Opposition knew last year that a child was being been targeted by a member of the Oireachtas”, with “perhaps messages being sent from this very building”.
Mr Cannon insisted that he was making a point of order and added that “the reputation of this institution is at stake”.
The Ceann Comhairle told him it was not a point of order. “Find some other way to raise it as a point of order should you wish, but it is not a point of order at this juncture.”
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