Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry to say this in many ways but the Sinn Féin ethos we now see, which is so clear, is the ethos of "protect the party at all costs", even if that means child protection is put into a distant second place. That is a totally unacceptable ethos for any party. Sinn Féin has sent out its representatives including its party leader in recent days to peddle what amount, I believe, to falsehoods and to give the most inaccurate and misleading account of what actually happened in a number of areas. So many have been mentioned already. In the limited amount of time I have, I want to focus on one particular thing which Sinn Féin really needs to answer today. We learned last Saturday that what was then referred to as a senior Sinn Féin official was in September 2023 referred to the PSNI and social services for inappropriately texting a teen and was suspended from the party. We learned today that that person was a Senator but that person was Sinn Féin's leader in the Seanad according to the official record until January 2024. Sinn Féin stood there and had someone who was suspended from the party in September 2023 who remained, according to the information, its leader in the Seanad until 2024. Why? Why were we not informed? Why were people not made aware? More importantly, if Sinn Féin suspended somebody in 2023 and referred them to the PSNI, did the party make any effort to inform the local GAA club or any other organisation with which that person was involved? Is this another version of where Sinn Féin does not tell people things because it is again, "protect the party over child protection"? It is a serious situation to have anybody in any organisation who is deemed not to be worthy of reporting until maybe they leave the organisation and are no longer under its umbrella of protection. I hope Deputy McDonald will take the opportunity to answer those questions today.

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