Then at the beginning of October the PSNI Chief Constable said: He contradicted Conor Murphy by saying that alerting a charity to a potential police investigation into McMonagle would not harm the investigation.

Murphy later said he was “happy to accept” the police chief’s opinion.

Later that month, a photo emerged showing Michelle O’Neill and McMonagle attending the same event at Stormont’s Great Hall while working for the British Heart Foundation.

He carried the charity’s banner as he entered the Houses of Parliament and mingled inside while filming a video for the charity.

Ulster Unionist Party councilor Doug Beattie said it was “hard to believe” O’Neill “didn’t notice his former colleague” at the Stormont event.

O’Neill maintains that he did not.

The British Heart Foundation later issued a statement.

The charity said their chairman, Fearghal McKinney, had a phone call with O’Neill in which he and his party colleagues acknowledged that recent comments questioning the FBiH’s due diligence process were unhelpful.

Additionally, the charity said it told a senior Sinn Féin HR official about the McMonagle references in August 2023, which contradicted statements made by Murphy and O’Neill.

O’Neill confirmed this and said contact between the charity and Sinn Féin’s HR department was not brought to the attention of party leaders at the time.

He called it a “serious oversight”.