Sinn Fein promise governance overhaul amid Michael McMonagle references controversy as Michelle O’Neill ‘deeply sorry’ Mary Lou McDonald has announced a “complete overhaul” of Sinn Fein’s governance procedures as she apologised for the party’s handling of a sex crime investigation into one of its former press officers.

He is set to be sentenced in NovemberThe Sinn Fein president addressed the controversy around Michael McMonagle after days of intensifying calls from political rivals in the Dail, including Taoiseach Simon Harris, for her to respond to the matter publicly.Her remarks came after the head of the British Heart Foundation (BHF) in Northern Ireland said the charity had been dismayed when their due diligence over the appointment of McMonagle appeared to have been questioned last week by senior Sinn Fein figures, including Ms O’Neill.

In another development on Monday, the Assembly confirmed that McMonagle was employed directly by Ms O’Neill and three other Sinn Fein MLAs across two periods, when his salary was paid for by Assembly allowances provided from the public purse.