Fine Gael has increased the pressure on Sinn Féin over its handling of a complaint about inappropriate messages sent by its former leader in the Seanad.
Fine Gael is calling on the opposition leader, Mary Lou McDonald, to correct the Dáil record after the victim wrote a newspaper article saying they were 16 at the time.
Earlier this week former senator Niall Ó Donnghaile confirmed he was the individual at the centre of the story and apologised.
In a statement he said the PSNI had concluded that no offences had been committed.
The party received a complaint about the text messages on 11 September 2023.
In a statement to the Sunday Independent, the teenager - who was a party member at the time the contacts were made - contradicted a claim by Ms McDonald that he was 17 when he received messages from Mr Ó Donnghaile.
He claims that he was 16 at the time.
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Minister of State for European Affairs Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said: "Despite Sinn Féin repeatedly giving the false age at the time of the communications and complaint, we have established, through the teen himself, he was 16. Why did Sinn Féin continue to push this falsehood?"
The Sinn Féin leader has stated that an immediate referral was made to the PSNI. But Deputy Carroll MacNeill has asked why the gardaí were not alerted:
"Sixteen is a child, North and South. For child protection rules, North and South," she said.
"For more than a year, Mary Lou McDonald and Sinn Féin have attempted to hide the reasons as to why their former Senator was sacked for unacceptable behaviours by the party and instead preferred to provide him with cover and glowing public references."
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Sinn Fein's Louise O'Reilly said the information given to Mary Lou McDonald was that the individual was 17 at the time.
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, Ms O'Reilly said: "She gave the information, accurate as she knew it at the time and based on information that had been given to us by the young person."
She said an immediate referral was made to the PSNI and social care services "because those are the authorities responsible, that was done immediately because this incident took place in the North".
"The PSNI are the governing authority and it was referred immediately to them."
Ms O'Reilly said the party needed to put the young person in this case at the centre of everything it does and says, and added that every party member and representative was "hurt and angry" by what happened on behalf of this young person.
She said that the party takes child protection very seriously and it is entirely appropriate that Mr Ó Donnghaile does not have his job and is not a member of the party.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said that Sinn Féin had put the party first and at the centre, ahead of the needs of the victim in the case of Niall Ó Donnghaile.
He said that there had been a cover up, and a public endorsement given by the party leader to Mr Ó Donnghaile.
