TD who gave reference to sex offender should come forward, say party leaders

By Cillian Sherlock, Press Association

A TD who reportedly gave a character reference to a man convicted of sexual exploitation should “come forward”, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste have urged.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris said they did not know who the TD was.

Martin said he was not going to go on a “witch hunt” but expected any TD who gave such a reference to identify themselves.

The Tánaiste said the law had recently been changed to strengthen protections around character references, which means they must be given on oath or via affidavit.

Harris, the Fine Gael leader, said: “This idea that you can anonymously or cowardly hide behind references into a court is not acceptable – that’s why we changed the law.

“The member of Dáil Éireann who did this should come forward and let us know who it is.”

He added: “I’m going to check that it’s not a member of my party.

“I have no knowledge that it’s a government TD, an opposition TD, I don’t know who it is.

“And I think if somebody has done it, I think they should come forward – but certainly no one in my party has contacted me as party leader.”

Harris said he asked Fine Gael general secretary John Carroll to contact every TD in the party to “seek an assurance” and said “all party leaders should do that too”.

Asked if he would do similar for Fianna Fáil, Martin said: “I’m not going to go on a particular witch hunt on anybody.

“I mean, that may come up in due course.

“I don’t know who the TD is, and that issue is very unclear.”

He added: “I would expect any TD who would have done that to come forward.”