LAST UPDATE | 10 mins ago

RIVAL PARTY LEADERS are piling pressure on Fine Gael leader Simon Harris to address the behaviour of a Fine Gael senator that led to an assault case taken against him in the High Court.

Fine Gael’s Louth general election candidate John McGahon was involved in an altercation with farmer Breen White outside the Rum House pub in Dundalk in 2018.

Though he was acquitted in a 2022 criminal trial of assault causing harm, McGahon was ordered this summer by the High Court to pay Breen White €39,000 after the Castleblayney farmer sued the senator for assault and battery.

According to the Irish Times, the jury found White had been assaulted and awarded €60,000, including €10,000 for aggravated damages. It apportioned blame at 65% against McGahon and the other 35% against the farmer.

Fianna Fáil and Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said he is “surprised” that Fine Gael has stood by McGahon.

Speaking to reporters today, Martin said the “injuries were very severe”.

“There is a victim here and the victim feels that he hasn’t been listened to,” he added.

Martin also said he was “shocked to see the photographs” and added that he “didn’t realise at all that it was of that scale”.

“There is very severe cuts and bruises, stitches; I didn’t understand that that was the nature and the severity of the assault.”

Breen White gave an interview to the Sunday Times about the incident, and shared pictures of the injuries he sustained in 2018.

A video of the incident has also circulated widely on social media.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said this afternoon that it is “very distressing to view”. 

“I think it’s really shocking. I really think it’s shocking that anybody in public life or anybody at all would behave like that,” McDonald said.

“Simon Harris, rather than dismissing concerns, needs to come out and address them.”

She repeated that the incident was “no way for a public representative to behave”. 

Taoiseach Simon Harris previously described what happened as “a scuffle” and said McGahon was remorseful.

Answering a question from The Journal’s Christina Finn at an event today, Martin said “it was anything but a scuffle”.

“I presume the Taoiseach hasn’t seen that video, but it was anything but a scuffle, it was vicious,” said Martin.

Martin also spoke about the incident on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio One, where he described the video as “quite shocking”.

“I’m conscious it has gone through the courts and he was found not guilty, but civilly liable,” said Martin.

The Fianna Fáil leader said it “needs to be addressed” and that he was “surprised” Fine Gael has backed McGahon.

He added that McGahon would not be a candidate “given the circumstances” if he were a member of his party and said: “There is a victim here, and striking to the head is very, very dangerous and thankfully here, didn’t lead to worse consequences, but could have.”

Martin also told Newstalk “there was a problem” with Fine Gael supporting McGahon.

“I think there’s a problem there. If I’m honest, I think the nature of the attack was quite… seems to me, anyway, to have been very aggressive, to say the least,” Martin said.

“The injuries are shocking. And I think people can see, unfortunately online, the nature of the attack, and whether he has learned since then and fully apologised.

“But I think there are issues there, if I’m honest. John McGahon may have explanations for it, but this clearly wasn’t a scuffle.”

Fine Gael response 

Harris responded to questions about the issue again earlier today, while on the campaign trail in Kilkenny.

“The reality of the situation is all of these issues were litigated in front of a court. A jury sat, a jury looked at all of the evidence, all of the CCTV, all of the photos, a defence of self-defence was put forward in the court, and John McGahon was acquitted by a jury of his peers,” he said.

“Of course, if he had not been acquitted, if he’d been found guilty by a criminal court, we’d be in a very different situation.

It’s interesting, these facts have been known for a very long period of time. And obviously, now that there’s an election, there’s a focus in relation to this.

But ultimately, it will be up to the people of Louth to decide. 

Harris said he had “seen the video footage on the internet”, referring to footage that is circulating online, purporting to show part of the altercation.

“I don’t believe that is all of the footage, but what I do know is a jury saw all of the footage. And a jury not me, because I’m not a jury. I’m not a judge. A jury looked at all of the footage. A jury acquitted John McGahon,” he said.

And that has to be the standard that we hold in terms of our criminal justice system in Ireland. 

Earlier, Public Expenditure Minister and general election candidate Paschal Donohoe defended the selection of McGahon to run for the party, saying he will not “second guess” the outcome of a criminal trial. 

Donohoe is the latest high-profile Fine Gael figure to back McGahon, after images emerged yesterday of the injuries sustained by a man he was involved in an altercation with in 2018.

Harris and Justice Minister Helen McEntee also both backed McGahon yesterday, saying the party would continue to canvas for him.

This was after Breen White gave an interview to the Sunday Times about the incident.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Paschal Donohoe defended McGahon’s selection and said “it is still not for me to second guess the outcome from a criminal trial.”

“I have to have recourse to what has been the process here, that there was a criminal trial in relation to this,” he said.

“John McGahon was not found guilty in that criminal trial. I have to then look at the engagement that I’ve had with him, where, in the aftermath of that criminal trial, I found somebody that works very hard, and been a politician who’s put his name in front of the people of Louth.”

Donohoe added that McGahon had paid “a significant fine” in relation to the incident.

“I think any act of violence, any incident like this, I obviously find extremely regrettable… and it’s one, of course, I have to acknowledge,” Donohoe said.

John McGahon has run in a number of elections for Fine Gael, and is a former councillor.

He ran unsuccessfully in the 2020 general election, but was elected to the Cultural and Educational Panel of the Seanad in 2020.

-With additional reporting from Diarmuid Pepper