Paddy Holohan suspended from Sinn Féin following sexual extortion comments
Sinn Féin councillor for south Dublin Paddy Holohan is to face party disciplinary procedures after it emerged that he had made comments regarding the alleged use of sexual extortion by women on his podcast.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald declared herself “shocked and deeply disappointed” by the comments at a party campaign stop in Bray, Co Wicklow, this morning.
“I have moved immediately to the party’s disciplinary procedures, and disciplinary action will be taken,” she said, adding that the comments are “beyond offensive, I actually find them upsetting”.
New comments emerged on Friday where Mr Holohan claimed on the same podcast that underage girls were having sex with men and then blackmailing them for up to 10,000 euro.
He told the No Shame podcast in the course of a discussion about women: “There is some f****** scum women out there as well.
“And I just want to say to you, there’s a situation that I heard during the week… somebody was underage, the person didn’t know they were underage, the girl pursued the guy.
“Got whatever she needed, had pictures, had videos, and then said ‘I want 10 grand’.
“And that was, that wasn’t the first person, there was loads of them.
“What is that kind of situation is that that’s going on in society now? I have two sons.
“It petrifies me, petrifies me that somebody could turn around and say I’m literally just going to say that you attacked me if you don’t give me 10 grand.”
The former MMA star turned councillor had earlier this week been reported to have made disparaging comments regarding Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s Indian heritage and the fact that he in Mr Holohan’s opinion does not represent a “family man”, comments which yesterday prompted an apology, which was accepted by Ms McDonald.
Asked what had changed since that apology the Sinn Féin leader replied “have you seen today’s comments?”.
“I have and I’ve made my own judgement on that,” she said, adding that she had only heard them in the previous 40 minutes.
Mr Holohan is not a candidate for election in the coming national vote on February 8th.
Ms McDonald also reiterated her call for the nature of the Special Criminal Court, an institution she has previously said should be abolished, to be reviewed, in the wake of the surge in gangland activity over the past week.
Two men were shot earlier today near St Margaret’s on Dublin’s northside, just days following the murder and dismemberment of 17-year-old Keane Mulready-Woods in Drogheda, a crime which Ms McDonald described as “barbaric”.
“We have a Special Criminal Court and yet these thugs and gangsters are still on the streets,” she said.
“Most of us believe fundamentally that where you can trial by jury is democratically the best option. Our strong preference is for jury trials.”
“I’m also shocked at the impunity with which people act. Obviously there are sections of society who believe they’re not going to be caught. The first thing we have to do is make the streets safe, and that of course means you need more gardaí,” she added.
The Special Criminal Court is a juryless court which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases.
