{"id":102919,"date":"2025-10-04T15:51:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T15:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/102919\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T15:51:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T15:51:07","slug":"connolly-says-she-spoke-to-prison-visiting-committee-before-hiring-eirigi-member-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/102919\/","title":{"rendered":"Connolly says she spoke to prison visiting committee before hiring \u00c9irig\u00ed member \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly<\/a> said she had looked into \u00c9irig\u00ed<\/a> member Ursula N\u00ed Shionnain<\/a> before employing her in D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann<\/a> by speaking to members of a committee that had visited her in prison.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly said she had carried out her own check on Ms N\u00ed Shionnain\u2019s credentials before she hired her in 2018 as an administrative support. Ms N\u00ed Shionnain had been released from jail having served almost four and a half years of a six-year sentence for possession of arms and ammunition.<\/p>\n

Asked what precise checks she carried out on Ms N\u00ed Shionnain\u2019s suitability, Ms Connolly said she had \u201cchecked with those who sat on a committee, a very important committee who visit prisons\u201d and she was satisfied that Ms N\u00ed Shionnain had rehabilitated herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this woman\u2019s name is out, and I really feel bad repeating it but it\u2019s out in the public. The woman came on the highest recommendations \u2013 \u00c9amon \u00d3 Cu\u00edv<\/a> has gone public in regard to what he said and the recommendations he made. This is a person who served her prison sentence,\u201d she said at an election event<\/a> in Blackpool, Cork on Saturday. <\/p>\n

Pressed on what precise checks she carried out, Ms Connolly said the vetting procedure on Ms N\u00ed<\/a> Shionnain was carried out by An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a> but that the process took so long Ms N\u00ed Shionnain left the position.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u00c9ir\u00edg\u00ed said Ursula N\u00ed Shionnain still member in 2018 when employed by Catherine Connolly in Leinster HouseOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe checks are carried out by the An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na. I carried out checks by finding out what was the woman\u2019s history in terms of the politicians that knew her and her background, the checks are carried out by the An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na \u2013 that process took its place,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I understand that this process, unfortunately, sometimes can take months, sometimes years, for existing members and former members of D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Deep division emerges amongst parties over Connolly\u2019s hiring of convicted womanOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I want to repeat, it\u2019s of extreme concern to me that this information has become public, and I think there\u2019s a duty on all of us to ask, \u2018How did this information become public, for what purpose?\u2019 Is anybody going to look at the damage this is doing to the privacy of a person and her family?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms N\u00ed Shionnain, who declined to comment when previously contacted by The Irish Times, was still being claimed by \u00c9irig\u00ed as a member when she was hired by Ms Connolly as an administrative support. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent presidential candidate Catherine Connolly said she had looked into \u00c9irig\u00ed member Ursula N\u00ed Shionnain before employing her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,1921,4767,23300,18,63601,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-102919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-catherine-connolly","11":"tag-dail-eireann","12":"tag-eamon-o-cuiv","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-eirigi","15":"tag-featured-news","16":"tag-featurednews","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-latest-news","21":"tag-latestnews","22":"tag-main-news","23":"tag-mainnews","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-presidential-election","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}