William Gerard "Gerry" McMonagle is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

politician. He is a member of

Donegal County Council Donegal County Council ( ga, Comhairle Contae Dhún na nGall) is the authority responsible for local government in County Donegal, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hou ...

, representing the

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

Electoral Area. He has appeared on national radio to discuss local events. He has also been a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Arrest and trial

McMonagle was arrested a week after the 1982 murder of Hugh "Lexie" Cummings - shot while driving home for lunch from his workplace in

Strabane Strabane ( ; ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Strabane had a population of 13,172 at the 2011 Census. It lies on the east bank of the River Foyle. It is roughly midway from Omagh, Derry and Letterkenny. The River Foyle marks ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

. McMonagle was held in custody until the case went to trial the following year. He was then released due to papers being improperly countersigned but was arrested again while departing from court. He was later released again. At this point he crossed the border and took up residence in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

on the north-west of the island. According to the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'', McMonagle was listed as being 'on the run' in 2003.

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

Jim Shannon Richard James Shannon (born 25 March 1955) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician in Northern Ireland. He has sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 2010 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Strangford. He had previo ...

used the

legal immunity Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...

parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. ...

in 2012 to link McMonagle with the Cummings murder.

Electoral history

McMonagle first stood as a candidate for Sinn Féin at the 1999 Donegal County Council election. Though not elected, he did secure his deposit - which was lost by

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

candidate Paddy Gildea. At the 2004 Letterkenny Town Council election, with nine seats available, McMonagle finished in seventh place - his first electoral success. He joined Damien Blake and Neil Clarke as new members of Letterkenny Town Council. At the 2014 Donegal County Council election, with ten seats available, McMonagle finished in sixth place, trailing

James Pat McDaid James Pat McDaid (born 1980s) is an Irish sportsman and politician. A Gaelic footballer, he has played for and captained the Glenswilly senior team. Born to James and Peggy (née McDermott of Termon), McDaid has four siblings: Barry, Nicola, Ai ...

Ian McGarvey Ian McGarvey (born July 1929) is a former association footballer and former politician. He is a member of Donegal County Council, representing the Letterkenny Electoral Area. Due to his age (his political career peaking while an octogenarian) h ...

, John O'Donnell, Ciaran Brogan and Liam Blaney, and secured election to Donegal County Council for the first time. As mayor, McMonagle was photographed walking around

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

with

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Leo Varadkar Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to De ...

on an official visit by the Taoiseach across the border in 2017, prompting an angry response from a niece of Cummings. When contacted, no comment from Varadkar was forthcoming.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcmonagle, Gerry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of Donegal County Council Mayors of places in the Republic of Ireland Sinn Féin politicians