Editorial: Transparency required from first minister Michelle O'Neill about Michael McMonagle's 'full-time' job

Last week the first minister tried to draw a line under recent scandals, claiming that she has been answering questions for four weeks.

Michelle O’Neill said this two days after flatly refusing to answer any questions that she didn’t want to in front of a shambolic Stormont committee – while in the next breath claiming that she wanted to be open and transparent.

Many of the questions she’s fielded have been about her party’s actions over recent scandals, one involving a former employee of hers. The questions raised by his employment are not “party political” questions for SF, but questions about the actions of the first minister.

In 2020, Michael McMonagle – later arrested and convicted of child sex offences – was paid to work in Ms O’Neill’s constituency office in a “full-time” job. It should therefore have been an easy question for the first minister to answer – perhaps something along the lines of “he worked there five days a week”. That’s how most of the workers paying his salary would interpret a full-time job.

But she didn’t say that. At the same time as working for Ms O’Neill, McMonagle was being paid by the public to work for a SF MP and as a SF spin doctor. The public have a right to know about the actions of the joint head of government - as when she employed McMonagle, Michelle O'Neill governed alongside Arlene Foster.

We also have a right to hear it from our first minister’s own mouth. It shouldn't be left to assembly officials to check through records in the background - in a salary and expenses probe about which they won't even disclose the terms of reference.

SF say all rules are followed, yet its leader wouldn’t tell Timothy Gaston whether McMonagle worked in her office at all, or if SF was using money from her budget for party purposes. She must tell the public.