Laois TD Brian Stanley, who announced he was leaving Sinn Féin last Saturday, has accused his former party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, of “abusing Dáil privilege” in remarks she made about him yesterday evening.
“Mary Lou Mc Donald abused Dáil privilege in a desperate attempt to shift the focus from her own party’s practices regarding a ‘complaint’ against me, the contents of which I refute,” he said.
“This comes after days of inaccurate statements and insinuations from Sinn Féin, along with selective briefings delivered with the clear intention of damaging my reputation and to shift the spotlight off the party,” he added.
“And all this, while a Garda investigation is ongoing on foot of serious matters I brought forward!” he said.
He said Ms McDonald’s Dáil statement revealed what he described as “the level of double standards that now operate and pertain in Sinn Féin”.
In a statement to Laois today, Mr Stanley, who will now contest the next election as an independent republican, reiterated that he rejected the complaint made against him, and argued that Deputy McDonald’s remarks in the Dáil were a “desperate attempt”to shift the focus from Sinn Féin’s own practices.
The Sinn Féin leader told the Dáil that the complaint made against Deputy Stanley “is very serious” – adding that “complaint relates to an incident that took place in October 2023 and relates to Deputy Stanley’s personal behaviour leaving the complainant, in her words, traumatised and distressed.”
But Mr Stanley insisted that “the complaint against me, and which was not deemed to be of a criminal nature, was lodged on the 26 July and not 7 days later as Sinn Féin claim”.
He added: “I also state that it was deliberately kept from me that there was even a complaint. That I wasn’t informed officially that there was a complaint until the 31 July and this followed a letter from my solicitor to Sinn Féin to demand official confirmation as to the existence of one.
“I again welcome the fact that this matter is now with An Garda Síochána,” he said.
Yesterday Mary Lou McDonald defended her party’s actions and its internal processes saying they were robust and fair – and applied equally to all members of the party.
She told the Dáil yesterday that she was unaware of the detail of the complaint against Mr Stanley until last Saturday night when the Laois TD issued a statement.
He had raised a “very serious” counter allegation against the complainant also relating to “the incident of October 2023”, Deputy McDonald sais.
The Dublin Central TD said Mr Stanley was advised to go to the Gardai but had not done so.
Yesterday it also emerged that former Sinn Féin Senator, Niall Ó Donnghaile, had sent an inappropriate message to a 17-year old, and to an adult male.
Addressing that controversy, Deputy McDonald said that Sinn Féin had received a complaint about the text messages sent by the former Senator on 11 September 2023.
She said the 17-year-old, who was also a member of Sinn Féin, “wanted this to stop and he wanted no further contact to be made to him by Niall Ó Donnghaile”. The party then began a formal procedure of investigating a complaint.
The adult who had been receiving “inappropriate text messages” was “advised of his right to make a complaint but chose not to do so,” the party leader said.
Given that the complainant was under 18, and following the party’s child protection guidelines , Mr Ó Donnghaile was suspended and the matter was referred to the PSNI and social services.
Deputy McDonald said that two weeks later, the PSNI told the party that there was no finding of illegality, and the teenager was satisfied with the sanctions taken by the party.
“There was no finding of illegality and no criminal charges were pursued,” Ms McDonald told the Dáil yesterday.
“However Niall Ó Donnghaile’s actions were not acceptable. This view was made clear to Niall Ó Donnghaile at a meeting on October 5th involving the party chair, the chief whip and the chairperson of Belfast Sinn Féin.
“At that meeting Niall Ó Donnghaile stated that he would be resigning both from the Seanad and the party.”
A statement to that effect was issued by the party on 21 December 2023, saying that Mr Ó Donnghaile was stepping down on the advice of his doctor.
Deputy Ms McDonald said that Sinn Féin had not informed the Oireachtas of the complaint because Mr Ó Donnghaile had previously been struggling with serious mental health issues, which had caused him to take extended leave from the Seanad.
“We were very worried that publicly naming him would be dangerous to his health and that is not to make an excuse for his behaviour, but we had very serious concerns for his mental health and his safety, and I still hold some of those concerns to this day,” she said.
She told the Dáil that Sinn Féin would “not ignore or hide away from difficult issues when they arise”.