Almost half of people believe Mary Lou McDonald’s statement that she would not have allowed Jonathan Dowdall to be a councillor for the party if she knew he was involved in criminality, a poll has indicated.
He had been a Dublin City councillor for Sinn Fein from May 2014 until he quit the party in October 2015. Ms McDonald and Sinn Fein have strenuously denied evidence heard during the trial, including that Mr Hutch had donated money to the party – calling the claims “false and deeply offensive”. Ms Justice Burns also said Dowdall was “extremely reluctant” to fill in details around the Regency murder trial, including about his relationship with “an infamous and dangerous” IRA terrorist Pearse McAuley.
In the wake of the verdict, Sinn Fein issued a statement from Ms McDonald saying that Dowdall should never have been a member of the party.