Fine Gael byelection candidate Seán Kyne accused of blackmail and harassment

The Ditch can reveal Fine Gael Galway West byelection candidate and Seanad leader Seán Kyne is the senator alleged to have blackmailed and harassed the former Inland Fisheries Ireland CEO. 

Francis O'Donnell, then CEO of the state fisheries agency, claimed in a statement to detectives in September 2022 that Kyne attempted to blackmail him into halting an internal investigation into another senior Inland Fisheries Ireland official. 

The official who was under investigation is allegedly a close friend of the Galway senator.

‘He has no protections outside the Seanad’

The Workplace Relations Commission in March this year ordered that Fine Gael's Seán Kyne could not be named during a hearing into former Inland Fisheries Ireland CEO Francis O’Donnell’s complaints against the fisheries agency under whistleblower legislation.

O'Donnell had suspended a senior fisheries employee while allegations from an anonymous protected disclosure were investigated. O'Donnell claimed he came under pressure from Kyne because of this suspension.

In a followup complaint to a garda superintendent in January 2024, seen by The Ditch, O'Donnell said, "An orchestrated campaign of harassment and witness intimidation is being undertaken by senator Sean Kyne and others close to him.”

Kyne had raised O'Donnell in the Seanad.

In December 2023 – after the first garda complaint – Kyne used parliamentary privilege to suggest wrongdoing against O'Donnell concerning the sale of a boat. 

The same allegation had been made against O'Donnell in an anonymous letter sent to his office and in a protected disclosure made by two other Inland Fisheries Ireland officials.

O'Donnell told gardaí Kyne is a close friend of the two officials and claimed they were feeding information to the Fine Gael senator.

O'Donnell made further allegations against Kyne in his January 2024 letter to gardaí.

In August 2023, O'Donnell claimed, Kyne contacted Philip Nugent – assistant secretary at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications – to make derogatory comments about the sole applicant for a fisheries inspector post in Connacht. 

It’s claimed that the same fisheries inspector is a witness in the garda investigation concerning O’Donnell’s 2022 criminal complaint.

The former CEO alleged Nugent told Kyne that recruitment within Inland Fisheries Ireland is a matter for the agency, not its parent department. Nugent put his concerns in writing to O'Donnell, it was claimed.

Kyne later contacted the Inland Fisheries Ireland board directly about the fisheries inspector’s candidacy, according to O'Donnell. The board confirmed Kyne's intervention in writing, it was alleged.

During a September 2023 Seanad sitting Kyne accused the fisheries inspector of lacking qualifications for the post and of having had the position secured for him in advance. 

“Everyone I speak to within Inland Fisheries Ireland in Galway and Mayo knows exactly who is going to get the position of inspector in Galway, who indeed has no leaving certificate or junior certificate or intermediate certificate,” said Kyne in the Seanad.

The fisheries inspector complained about Kyne's comments to the cathaoirleach of the Seanad, according to O’Donnell.

O'Donnell told gardaí in his January 2024 correspondence he believed Kyne was using Seanad privilege "to destroy the reputation of witnesses”.

"He has no protections outside the Seanad… Someone is asking him to make these allegations under privilege. This is strategic in nature and very deliberate," claimed O’Donnell.

The former CEO told gardaí he wanted to make an additional statement as he believed “senator Kyne will continue with his interference when the Seanad returns”.

Kyne again used parliamentary privilege to accuse O’Donnell of “targeting” a former Inland Fisheries Ireland employee, a day after the Seanad's first sitting after its Christmas break.

He declined to comment.