TAOISEACH Simon Harris has “serious questions to answer” over a Fine Gael candidate’s fight with a man outside a pub, Sinn Fein has insisted.
Senator John McGahon, a general election candidate for the party in Louth, inflicted serious injuries on Breen White, 55, outside the Rum House pub in Dundalk, Co Louth in the early hours of June 17, 2018, while he was a county councillor.
CCTV footage shown in court and an edited clip which has now surfaced on social media shows McGahon punching White a number of times while the latter was on the ground, with friends attempting to pull him off the victim.
McGahon, 33, was found not guilty of criminal assault, but 65 per cent civilly liable by a jury in a High Court action earlier this year.
White was awarded €39,000 in damages.
Today, both the Taoiseach and Justice Minister jumped to McGahon’s defence.
Helen McEntee told RTE yesterday that McGahon was acquitted of assault after a criminal trial in which “all the evidence was seen, was heard, was presented” after putting forward a claim of self-defence.
The Minister for Justice added: “Everything that I’ve done in the Department of Justice has been to put victims at the very centre — but we have a trial process, we have a criminal justice process.
“John McGahon has gone through that and was, by a jury of his peers, acquitted of the crime that he was before the trial for.
“So, I think we have to ensure that we protect him, we uphold our criminal justice system, no matter who it applies to.”
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Simon Harris said his party will continue to canvass for John McGahon.
He added yesterday: “These matters were all examined in a court of law. A jury sat in Louth. A jury looked at the CCTV, a jury looked at images.
“A defence was put forward, a defence of self-defence was put forward, and a jury found him not guilty.”
However, outraged Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly said today: “This is not a minor misdemeanour. This is a serious assault.
“Footage of the assault has also been in circulation and anyone who has seen it will have been shocked by what they saw. Simon Harris must answer the following three questions today.
“Why was John McGahon allowed to go forward as a Fine Gael candidate when Simon Harris must have been aware of the brutality of this assault?
“Will John McGahon be allowed to continue to run as a Fine Gael candidate given the details and footage that are now in the public domain?
“Does Simon Harris agree that it is deeply hurtful for the victim that Fine Gael has endorsed his assailant John McGahon as a general election candidate?”
WHO CAN RUN & WHO CAN VOTE IN A GENERAL ELECTION?
TO run as a candidate in a general election and be in with a chance of being voted in as a TD you must meet a number of requirements.
Candidates must be a citizen of Ireland and over 21 years of age – to run for a political party you must go through your party’s political selection procedure.
To run as an independent candidate you must present your nomination paper to the returning officer in the constituency you wish to run in.
You can nominate yourself for election and you can run in multiple constituencies.
You do not have to own property or live in the constituency you run in.
To register, you must give the returning officer a certificate of party affiliation or statutory declarations signed by 30 constituents or a deposit of €500.
All nomination papers must be submitted by midday on the seventh day after the Clerk of the Dail issues the writ for the General Election.
In order to vote in a general election in Ireland you must meet multiple requirements.
Voters must be 18 years or older, a resident in Ireland and registered to vote.
Irish citizens can vote in general elections as can British citizens who live in Ireland and British citizens are recognised by the letter D on the Register.
EU citizens cannot vote in General Elections in Ireland and neither can non-EU citizens.
Speaking to the Sunday Times yesterday, Breen White said he was “astonished” the senator had been selected for four separate campaigns despite him showing the party pictures of the injuries he had received.
Castleblayney, Co Monaghan farmer White said he showed former Fine Gael party secretary Tom Curran the pictures of his facial bruises in September 2018 and then met Jim D’Arcy, then-leader Leo Varadkar’s adviser, to talk about it.
White added: “I was very surprised that he [McGahon] was now going forward. I think everyone at the higher levels should have drawn breath and said, ‘Well, let’s see what exactly has happened here,’ and teased it out correctly — which I feel didn’t happen.”
He also said he was “really disappointed” Mr Harris had described the incident as a “scuffle” and claimed McGahon had never offered he or his wife a public apology.
White said: “I don’t think Harris, in fairness, might have been afforded to be shown the video of what McGahon actually [did] to me that night, and he might have been working under limited information.
“I think if he’d seen the video or seen my injuries, he definitely would not have described it as a ‘scuffle’.”
