Niall Ó Donnghaile was paid until early this year and received a lump sum after stepping down as senator – The Irish News

Niall Ó Donnghaile was paid by the Oireachtas until early this year, when he received a severance package and then six monthly payments.

O’Donnghaile announced his resignation as senator last December, three months after the party first became aware of inappropriate text messages, including to a 17-year-old boy, a member of the party.

The 39-year-old, a party activist from the age of 16, was first elected to Belfast City Council in 2011 at the age of 25, the same year he was appointed the city’s new mayor.

But before his election, Mr O’Donnghaile was a member of Sinn Féin’s press office, working from Stormont. While there is no comparison to the case of Michael McMonagle, who pleaded guilty to child molestation, he was also a press officer for the party.

Two other former press officers, Sean Mag Uidhir and Caolán McGinley, provided references that helped McMonagle get a job at the British Heart Foundation. This was a year after McMonagle was first arrested and suspended by the party.

It has now emerged that Mr Ó Donnghaile was paid as a senator from September, when the party was first made aware of the allegations, until January 22. Senators receive around £6,600 a month before tax.

On dismissal, Mr O’Donnghaile was entitled to a lump sum and, because he had been employed for eight years, he also received the six monthly payments of 75% of his previous salary.

After resigning in December, Sinn Féin leader Mary McDonald gave what one member of the Dáil described as a “glowing” reference for Mr O’Donnghaile, a description called a “stretch” by the party’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty named.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin accused Ms McDonald of “misleading” the Oireachtas by failing to make public the factual details surrounding the senator’s departure from politics.

“It is clear that Sinn Féin has once again failed to tell the truth about a very serious matter and appears to be involved in a very extensive cover-up,” Martin said.