A former Sinn Féin press officer “may have misrepresented details of his employments” when he worked in Michelle O’Neill’s Stormont office, an assembly probe into the potential abuse of MLAs’ staff costs has concluded.
The investigation was sparked by concerns that Michael McMonagle’s double-jobbing as party press officer while at the same time in 2020 working for the then deputy first minister and other elected representatives, represented misuse of public money.
The final report, released to the media late on Tuesday afternoon, appears to exonerate the Sinn Féin deputy leader and other party colleagues of any wrongdoing.
However, it says the circumstances under which McMonagle was employed “may have resulted in a misuse of public money” and that it was “odd” the party did not pick up on his double-jobbing.
The report has been described as a “scandalous whitewash”, the publication of which was “rushed”.
Assembly chief executive Lesley Hogg has said “further steps” should now be taken to establish future clarity around an employee’s status.
Ms Hogg said she intend to implement “new measures” to tighten governance in relation to how MLAs spend public funds, including revising job descriptions and more comprehensive record keeping.
She said the PSNI has been informed of the matter in accordance with public body accounting rules.
McMonagle was jailed in November last year for child sex offences after pleading guilty to pleaded guilty to 14 charges.
The 42-year-old, of Limewood Street in Derry, left his role in the Sinn Féin press office in June 2022 while under police investigation.
During a period of intense media scrutiny triggered by last September’s resignation of his former colleagues Seán Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley, who in 2022 wrote McMonagle employment references, it emerged that the convicted paedophile had worked as a Sinn Féin press officer while also being employed at various times by Ms O’Neill, West Tyrone MP Órfhlaith Begley and Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Jemma Dolan.
The revelation prompted questions about the use of assembly members’ allowances for what was deemed party purposes.
A review carried out by Jonathan McMillen, head of the assembly’s legal services, said MLAs are entitled to recover staff costs “in connection with their role as members” but not for work that didn’t relate specifically to their Stormont duties.
Therefore, he said, the party rather than the individual MLA, should cover press office costs - but he conceded that the lines were blurred.
“It should also be recognised that a person may legitimately have more than one job for which that person is remunerated, and that many people may choose to carry out unpaid work for a political party whose policy preferences they share,” Mr McMillen said.
He adds that it was “not realistically possible” for McMonagle to carry out all the work for which he was employed in the three-month period in 2020.
“This is indicative of misrepresentation by Mr McMonagle to his employers, and but for the particular circumstances set out in this review, would call into question the role of the employer,” Mr McMillen said.
The assembly’s head of legal services argued that Sinn Féin “ought to have known” that McMonagle was contracted to work for around 80 hours a week but said Ms O’Neill was “unlikely” to have been aware of his employment contracts.
The review said the “most serious issue to emerge” was that McMonagle had taken up full-time employment with Ms O’Neill in March 2020 when at the same time he was employed by Ms Begley.
“If Sinn Féin did provide centralised recruitment facilities to members of the party, as seems likely, it is odd that this was not picked up until October 2024, particularly when Mr McMonagle was at the same time working part-time for the party,” the review said.
“The result was that Mr McMonagle was for a three-month period entitled to two full-time salaries from two different sources, both drawing on public funds.”
TUV MLA Timothy Gaston described the report as a “scandalous whitewash”.
“I believe that the report’s publication was rushed after it became clear that I was tabling a motion on the issue which would be debated shortly,” he said.
“The motion had to be tabled by noon today (Tuesday). The report was published at 4pm.”
Sinead Ennis, Sinn Fein’s chief whip in the Assembly, welcomed the completion of the review.
She said: “The report contains some positive recommendations which could further improve processes and provide greater clarity for members in employing support staff.
“It is essential that the use of public money is fully accountable, properly scrutinised and that processes in relation to the use of public funds are open and transparent.”
The DUP has called for the review to be discussed in the Assembly chamber.
