Conor Murphy addresses Michael McMonagle controversy after being quizzed by Sinéad McLaughlin

Transcript

00:00Minister, last week you said two things that have since had to be corrected.

00:05First, you said that Sinn Féin could not share any information about the reason

00:09Michael McMonigle's suspension from Sinn Féin with the British Heart Foundation

00:13because it would have prejudiced a police investigation. The Chief

00:17Constable corrected that. Then you implied that the British Heart

00:21Foundation should have done better due diligence on Mr. McMonigle's appointment.

00:27It is now clear that they acted entirely appropriately and proper and it was your

00:34party that failed in its process. Can I offer you the opportunity to correct the

00:39record and to apologise? Firstly, had you listened to the interview in full you

00:45would have heard that I had said on a number of occasions that we had no

00:48information as to Mr. McMonigle's whereabouts beyond the time we suspend

00:51him so I was not in fact in a position to advise the British Heart Foundation

00:57in relation to his employment because we were not aware that he worked for

00:59them, that our party leadership was not aware that he worked for them at that

01:03time. I also went on to offer an opinion in relation to if someone had

01:08information what the process might be and what the jeopardies might be in

01:11terms of that. I'm very happy to accept the Chief Constable's view in relation

01:15to that and I absolutely concur with the in terms of the due diligence issue. I

01:21accept absolutely that I had not all of the information and therefore I

01:25shouldn't have commented in relation to that. I'm very happy to share in the

01:29apology that the First Minister made and that that was offered by my party

01:32presidents yesterday. Thank you Minister for that answer. At every point along

01:40this journey it's been a safeguarding issue. There are innocent children and

01:45victims at the heart of this matter. Would you be happy to engage in a wider

01:50inquiry into the multiple aspects of the failure of due process and due diligence?

01:57Minister, well we certainly will be doing a conduct into the processes that were

02:03applied, doing an inquiry ourselves and seeking outside assistance in relation

02:08to that. I have to say this isn't unique to us. So all of us have had lessons to

02:13learn over the years and how we deal with things and all of us need to

02:16improve in how we deal with things. We are no different from any other party in

02:19that regard and of course we will look at the lessons in relation to this. We will

02:22seek professional advice to make sure that our processes are as robust and

02:26safe as they can be. Safeguarding is our primary concern and we need to make sure

02:30the process is reflected.