Calls grow for Mary Lou McDonald to make Dáil statement about former party press officer

It’s a natural reaction to being on the wrong end of a disciplinary process to rubbish the process itself and to characterise it using terms such as kangaroo court etc.

In most companies, the occurrence of disciplinary issues never reaches the public domain but anyone who feels that due process hasn’t been followed has recourse to legal action or the WRC etc. The difference here is that it’s all being played out in public.

All that we’re relying on at the moment is speculation.

While I’m no fan of the shinners, what we know for sure is that they conducted an investigation arising from a complaint about one of their star players. I’m not sure whether that would have happened in the past.

There’s no good outcome to this for SF. Either Stanley has been unfairly treated and was indeed subject to a kangaroo court OR one of the shinners’ most senior representatives has behaved in a way that left them with no option but to consider kicking him out.

Take your pick. It’s not a good look either way.
 
It's hard to follow.
Someone made a complaint about him which was not criminal in nature.
So, as far as I can make out, there is no accusation of criminality against Brian Stanley.
Then there was a counter-complaint which was potentially criminal in nature.
But the Preliminary report is reported to have said that Stanley is guilty of gross misbehaviour.
So they referred it to the Gardai out of "an abundance of caution"

I presume that within all political parties, there is misbehaviour and complaints made to the party H.Q. Most would not be referred to the Gardai as most misbehaviour is not criminal.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
It's hard to follow.
Someone made a complaint about him which was not criminal in nature.
So, as far as I can make out, there is no accusation of criminality against Brian Stanley.
Then there was a counter-complaint which was potentially criminal in nature.
But the Preliminary report is reported to have said that Stanley is guilty of gross misbehaviour.
So they referred it to the Gardai out of "an abundance of caution"

I presume that within all political parties, there is misbehaviour and complaints made to the party H.Q. Most would not be referred to the Gardai as most misbehaviour is not criminal.
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There's a difference between breaking the rules (of an organisation) and breaking the law. I suppose the question is at what point did the distinction become unclear?
 
The timing of the initial complaint is curious, it completely blocked his way for nomination to contest the general election....


"The complaint, which I refute, was lodged with the party on the very first day (26 July) that a 10-day nomination process opened for members such as myself to be put forward to contest the general election,” he said.

“In my case this had the effect of preventing me of having any hope of contesting it as a Sinn Féin candidate for Laois. It was received by Sinn Féin on the 26 July and I obtained written proof of this from them, he added.

Brian Stanley contradicts Mary Lou McDonald timeline and claims he is victim of 'character assassination' by 'clique' in Sinn Féin

www.independent.ie

Brian Stanley contradicts Mary Lou McDonald timeline and claims he is victim of 'character assassination' by 'clique' in Sinn Féin

Former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has claimed he is the victim of a “character assassination” by a “clique” in his former party.
www.independent.ie www.independent.ie
 
Salvadore said:
There’s no good outcome to this for SF. Either Stanley has been unfairly treated and was indeed subject to a kangaroo court OR one of the shinners’ most senior representatives has behaved in a way that left them with no option but to consider kicking him out.

Take your pick. It’s not a good look either way.
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+ if it was a criminal matter, why did they wait so long to refer it to the Gardai, if it's not a criminal matter, why are they wasting the Gardai's time. ?

Interestingly, another Laois councilor resigned in August after he faced a 3 month suspension for breech of the SF ethic's policy. There are councilors in Tipp, Galway and Cork (to name but 3) who have resigned since the last General election, to be honest, you'd be hard put to find a county in Ireland where a SF TD or councilor has not resigned since the last general election.

TBH, Sinn Fein look out of control.
 
It feels like SF are imploding.

I shudder to think what scandals or 'misbehaviours' would come about if they were in power. They can't even govern themselves.
 
The SF internal inquiry stuff is straight out of the Kremlin, the way Putin would concoct trumped up charges in order to remove undesirable generals and officials that were not jumping to his tune or who could blame for his own disastrous decisions
 
redstar said:
It feels like SF are imploding.

I shudder to think what scandals or 'misbehaviours' would come about if they were in power. They can't even govern themselves.
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Look at the bright side - at present there is zero chance of Sinn Fein getting into government in any way, shape or form.

I suspect they will be lucky to retain the 12% they got in the local elections
 
redstar said:
It feels like SF are imploding.

I shudder to think what scandals or 'misbehaviours' would come about if they were in power. They can't even govern themselves.
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I'm sure they would come about but would we hear about them? SF seem pretty keen on muzzling the media.
 
Why isn't the Mystery Of The Lost Letter a bigger story? Did the SF barrister toss it on the counter at Kevin Street Garda Station last Sunday - or stick it in the letterbox at 3am? Surely such an important document would have been handed to a senior Garda officer marked "Urgent" or "Confidential" and signed for? (Perhaps it's been found - I can't keep up with this story.)

www.rte.ie

SF letter to gardaí over Stanley contains text messages

The letter sent by Sinn Féin to gardaí in connection with the resignation of TD Brian Stanley contains copies of text messages shared between the two parties.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
Gardaí are still trying to confirm they have received the letter, which Sinn Féin said was delivered to Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin on Sunday afternoon.
www.thejournal.ie

McDonald tells Dáil that complaint made against TD Brian Stanley is 'very serious'

Gardaí have so far been unable to locate the letter Sinn Féin claims it submitted on Brian Stanley allegation.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie
However, garda sources have said officers have not yet been able to locate the letter Sinn Féin claims it submitted on its internal investigation against the Laois-Offaly TD.
 
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Howth Head said:
Why isn't the Mystery Of The Lost Letter a bigger story? Did the SF barrister toss it on the counter at Kevin Street Garda Station last Sunday - or stick it in the letterbox at 3am? Surely such an important document would have been handed to a senior Garda officer marked "Urgent" or "Confidential" and signed for? (Perhaps it's been found - I can't keep up with this story.)

www.rte.ie

SF letter to gardaí over Stanley contains text messages

The letter sent by Sinn Féin to gardaí in connection with the resignation of TD Brian Stanley contains copies of text messages shared between the two parties.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
Gardaí are still trying to confirm they have received the letter, which Sinn Féin said was delivered to Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin on Sunday afternoon.
www.thejournal.ie

McDonald tells Dáil that complaint made against TD Brian Stanley is 'very serious'

Gardaí have so far been unable to locate the letter Sinn Féin claims it submitted on Brian Stanley allegation.
www.thejournal.ie www.thejournal.ie
However, garda sources have said officers have not yet been able to locate the letter Sinn Féin claims it submitted on its internal investigation against the Laois-Offaly TD.
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If only the letter had been signed “P O’Neill” it would have received immediate attention.
 
I had the misfortune to hear Pierce Doherty being interviewed on RTE and NewsTalk this morning and started playing "Let me be clear" bingo. I think he used the phrase, or one very similar, around 50 times between the two interviews.
"Let me be clear" is a phrase used before someone obfuscates or misdirects or lies.
 
Purple said:
"Let me be clear" is a phrase used before someone obfuscates or misdirects or lies.
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Biden used it a lot even when it was apparent he'd lost his train of thought after uttering it.

Miriam Lord eviserated Mary Loo in today's IT (subscriber). If it wasn't such a sad topic it would be funny.
 
Knuttell said:
Biden used it a lot even when it was apparent he'd lost his train of thought after uttering it.

Miriam Lord eviserated Mary Loo in today's IT (subscriber). If it wasn't such a sad topic it would be funny.
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I'm not really a fan of Miriam Lord. There's a smugness to her articles. That said I dislike the Shinners more.
 
If we can ignore their previous history of covering up child abuse and their support for people who have murdered children, and I know that's a lot to ignore, I'm not seeing what exactly they did wrong with how they handled the resignation of Niall Ó Donnghaile. We don't have enough information about the Brian Stanley affair to pass judgement.

The resignation of Patricia Ryan is a different issue but she showed a remarkable naivety in thinking that Sinn Fein was going to operate like a normal political party.
 
The letter has been found - four days after it was "handed in!" (Gosh...they must be inundated with correspondence in that Kevin Street Garda Station for it to have taken so long.) Such a definitive statement on the cover letter too...

www.rte.ie

Gardaí confirm receipt of Sinn Féin correspondence

Gardaí have confirmed they have received correspondence from Sinn Féin in connection with the alleged incidents surrounding the resignation of TD Brian Stanley.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
"The cover letter states that 'there may be issues that present possibilities for further investigation by An Garda Síochána'."
 
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Howth Head said:
"The cover letter states that 'there may be issues that present possibilities for further investigation by An Garda Síochána'."
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That’s beautiful.

Because anytime you might find yourself in the position of reporting stuff to the Gardai, they never tell you there’s nothing they can do. No, they look for possibilities for further investigation. Every time.
 
Sinn Fein taking people for fools again... Mairia Cahill calling it out on Twitter:

Louise O'Reilly just tried to claim on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, that Mary Lou Mc Donald did not issue a "glowing reference" but a "statement of six lines outlining his career". Does she think people can't read? Here it is.

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