SINN FÉIN LEADER Mary Lou McDonald has said she “deeply regrets” the statement she made praising senator Niall Ó Donnghaile following his resignation. 

At the launch of Sinn Féin’s health policy today, which lasted more than an hour, McDonald faced her first press conference since multiple crises in her party came to light in recent weeks.

In relation to the resignation of former senator Niall Ó Donnghaile, McDonald said that “as a mother” she regrets the statement she made praising Ó Donnghaile following his resignation in December last year. 

At the time, McDonald thanked Ó Donnghaile for serving “diligently” as a Sinn Féin representative and said he gave voice to northern nationalists in the Oireachtas.

However, earlier this month, Ó Donnghaile revealed the reason he stepped down from the Seanad and left the party last December was due to a complaint that accused him of sending inappropriate text messages to a teenager.

Mary Lou McDonald then revealed that Ó Donnghaile had been suspended from the party as a result of the allegation in September 2023, months before she issued her statement on his resignation.

Speaking today, McDonald said: “With the benefit of hindsight, of course, the statement shouldn’t have been made. And I say that because it caused hurt to the young person in question.”

McDonald said she wrote to the young person at the heart of the Ó Donnghaile complaint and expressed to them her “very deep regret” and her sorrow that she had caused them “pain or distress” by the commentary she made following Ó Donnghaile’s resignation.

“That’s the last thing I would [want to] do. Quite apart from being a politician, I’m a mother, and I know something about raising young adults, so I deeply regret that. I’ve expressed that to the young person. And I mean it. I meant it, and I mean it,” McDonald said. 

Explaining her rationale for issuing the statement, McDonald said: 

“Niall faced consequences. His political career is over. His membership of Sinn Féin is over. And for someone like him, those are big sanctions. And I was conscious at the time that he was in mental health crisis. I do not offer that as an excuse for his behaviour, nor was it an excuse.

“He faced accountability and consequences that had to happen, but I was concerned. We were concerned about his frame of mind and his safety.” 

Separately, McDonald also answered questions on Sinn Féin’s handling of an internal inquiry into an allegation made against Brian Stanley and a counter-allegation from the Laois-Offaly TD. Sinn Fáin has said the complaint against Stanely was not criminal in nature.

A number of reports over the weekend published contents from the party’s draft report into the complaint and counter-allegation made by Stanley.

Stanley resigned from the party after he and the complainant were issued with a preliminary report from Sinn Féin earlier this month, claiming that the internal process was like a “kangaroo court”.

Commenting on the matter today, McDonald said the party did everything it was obliged to do and that Stanley’s “bad behaviour is a matter for him”.

“We did it in a thoughtful, in a methodical and in a fair way and in a way that respected people’s privacy as well as everything else. So yes, we have done our duty.

“Can I also say that, Brian Stanley’s bad behaviour is a matter for him. I’m not responsible for that. I will not take responsibility for that, what I am responsible for, as the leader of the party is the investigation and inquiry into a complaint such as that when it’s made, and it was done by the book,” McDonald said. 

McDonald said she would not get into a “he said, she said” on the matter.

When asked if she has any sympathy for Stanley in light of how events have unfolded, McDonald said she thinks it is a “terrible pity that somebody who was with Sinn Féin for so long is no longer with us.”

“That’s always a matter of regret, of course. I mean, we all know Brian well. But I also have to say that where a complaint is entered against anybody, it has to be inquired into. It’s regrettable that he walked away. So all of that is regrettable, but those are choices that he made, and he was free to make them,” McDonald said. 

She added: “For our part, now we will move to select an alternative candidate for Laois, and we will go in there to mount a very strong campaign to hold what is a Sinn Féin seat.”