Sinn Féin Councillor Aidan Mullins, who represents the Portarlington electoral area, has announced his resignation from the party, saying he was “being silenced” after clashing with the party on immigration and other issues.
Councillor Mullins, who was comfortably re-elected to the Council in June with close to a quota, has said that he will remain on the Council as an Independent.
In a statement issued to Laois Today and other media Mullins said that he had been brewing over this for a year and that he felt that he was “being silenced.” He said that he had been at odds with Sinn Féin over their stance on the recent referendums and their position on immigration.
He said: “This has been brewing with me for the last 12 months or so as I felt I was being silenced,” adding that he “clashed with the party over their stance on the referendums and also on immigration.”
In a hard-hitting statement Councillor Mullins accused Sinn Féin of having “no policy on immigration at all and didn’t produce one until after the Local Elections” and of refusing to listen to Councillor Mullins and others on strategy.
He also claimed that when he had reposted a reference to biological men being excluded from women’s sports that “Another member of the party made a complaint about me and accused me of being ‘anti-trans”.
“Another member of the party made a complaint about me and accused me of being ‘anti-trans,” he said. “I had never made any comment on the post, I simply reshared the decision.”
That had led to him being suspended for three months. “That was the final straw for me,” he said. He also told Midlands 103 that he had been investigated because of social media post she made about immigration, with a complaint made that he had made “racist” comments – a charge he “totally rejected”. Councillor Mullins was nonetheless “told he was in breach of the party’s ethics”.
Midlands 103 said Councillor Mullins also said he had “raised concerns with the direction Sinn Féin were going in, particularly in relation to its stance on immigration, the Hate Speech Bill and the rejected referendums on Family and Care”
He said attempts were made to silence him, with requests from the party that he withdraw comments on immigration, and to “stay off” social media, and “not to be making these comments”. Councillor Mullins said he refused to delete his comments.
He told Midlands 103 that the party’s collapse in the polls “could be seen coming, but nobody listened”.
In common with many long-standing republicans who have parted ways with Sinn Féin including those who have resigned as elected representatives, Mullins expressed his disillusionment with their current state.
“This is not the party that I joined and I really feel that they have lost their way completely.”
Councillor Mullins has been outspoken for some time on various issues in which Sinn Féin had adopted positions they are now rowing back on and made it apparent through his social media accounts that he feels that the level of immigration is unsustainable.
Ireland had the EU's highest per capita number of asylum applications in May. This is just not sustainable in the longer term.
— Aidan Mullins (@AidanMullins7) July 26, 2024
During the attempt to install a tent city at the International Protection Office in Dublin, Councillor Mullins had commented on one of the persons who had been interviewed at the scene by RTÉ.
RTE reported today of an Afghan "Asylum Seeker" in Mount Street tents with an English accent, he worked in UK and was in rented accommodation, flew to Belfast and got bus to Dublin. He didn't want to be sent to Rwanda.
— Aidan Mullins (@AidanMullins7) May 1, 2024
Are we now housing him with food, free medical card etc ?
His willingness to speak out against the party line obviously did him no harm with his constituents and he was one of only two Sinn Féin Councillors to be elected to the 19 person body.
This will come as a blow to the chances of sitting TD Brian Stanley retaining the seat in the forthcoming general election. Laois is now a 3 seater as the Laois/Offaly constituency in which Stanley was elected with 24% in 2020 has been divided by the Electoral Commission.