{"id":159880,"date":"2025-11-26T02:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T02:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/159880\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T02:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T02:24:08","slug":"verona-murphy-says-photo-opportunity-with-sinn-fein-does-not-mean-she-supports-partys-bill-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/159880\/","title":{"rendered":"Verona Murphy says photo opportunity with Sinn F\u00e9in does not mean she supports party\u2019s Bill \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy<\/a> has strongly denied that she was photographed in support of a Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> Bill, after she appeared with the party in a picture used to promote the proposed legislation. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Ms Murphy said it was \u201cabsolutely inaccurate and seriously misleading\u201d to suggest the Ceann Comhairle was supporting the Bill. The role of the Ceann Comhairle requires the office holder to be above active participation in politics and to be impartial. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald posted a photograph to X of Ms Murphy and the main Opposition party outside Leinster House.<\/p>\n

November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. <\/p>\n

The photo also included sexual violence survivors Sonya Stokes, Leona O\u2019Callaghan and Shaneda Daly – who are all backing a Sinn F\u00e9in Bill designed to create new protection orders for victims of sexual violence. The Victims of Sexual Violence Civil Protection Orders Bill 2025 was debated in the D\u00e1il on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n

Like the others in the photograph, Ms Murphy is wearing orange – the official campaign colour of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. <\/p>\n

Ms Murphy is flanked by women Sinn F\u00e1in TDs and Ms Stokes, Ms O\u2019Callaghan and Ms Daly, who are all holding a copy of the Sinn F\u00e9in Bill, though Ms Murphy is not. Ms McDonald posted the photograph on X, in a post promoting the Bill. \u201cThis is a really important piece of legislation which needs to pass quickly. Victims can\u2019t wait any longer,\u201d Ms McDonald said. <\/p>\n

The image has since been deleted.<\/p>\n

According to the spokeswoman, Ms Murphy\u2019s office received a request from Sinn F\u00e9in for the use of the plinth. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe occasion was to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and a proposal for the wearing of orange to support and highlight the campaign,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was on this basis that the Ceann Comhairle was photographed. To suggest that the Ceann Comhairle was photographed in support of a Sinn F\u00e9in Bill is absolutely inaccurate and seriously misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe full tweet posted by Mary Lou McDonald <\/p>\n

The Irish Times understands that Ms Murphy also received a complaint from sexual abuse survivor M\u00e1ir\u00eda Cahill<\/a> on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Ms Cahill, who was raped as a teenager by a senior member of the IRA and who accused Sinn F\u00e9in of trying to cover it up, wrote to Ms Murphy to \u201ccomplain about your participation in a photograph with Sinn F\u00e9in\u201d. <\/p>\n

Ms Cahill said she did not need to remind the D\u00e1il of \u201cSinn F\u00e9in\u2019s treatment\u201d of her. \u201cNot only did the D\u00e1il debate the issue at length, but I am a former member of the Seanad.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ms Cahill claimed that by standing with the party, \u201chowever well intentioned, you have sent a message to those of us very publicly treated badly by Sinn F\u00e9in that our cases do not matter. That is most unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither Sinn F\u00e9in nor Ms Murphy responded to an offer to comment on or respond to Ms Cahill\u2019s correspondence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has strongly denied that she was photographed in support of a Sinn F\u00e9in Bill,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,89527,3658,43,3415,40,38,41,39,27999],"class_list":{"0":"post-159880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-mairia-cahill","10":"tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sinn-fein","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories","17":"tag-verona-murphy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}