Brian Stanley says the Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald’s assertion that his rights were protected throughout an internal investigation into him are very far from the truth as he perceives the matter.
The now former Sinn Féin deputy for Laois-Offaly announced on Saturday that he was leaving the party after 40 years following the mixed messaging surrounding a complaint against him.
Mr. Stanley has issued a new statement on Monday to claim that he was the subject of a “character assassination” before resigning from Sinn Féin.
The party say the complaint was made on October 2nd, while Mr Stanley insists it was lodged on July 26th in a bid to block him from running in the forthcoming general election.
Deputy Stanley’s statement claims that his rights were not protected by the party. He welcomed how “Sinn Féin belatedly referred the “complaint” and matters concerning it to the Gardai, adding, This has been advocated by me for some time, including to a senior Sinn Fein official.”
In the statement he went on to say “The party should have referred it to the Gardai once both myself and my legal representative brought certain serious matters to the attention of the panel on 11 September.”
“Mary Lou McDonald has stated correctly that the complaint made against me is not of a criminal nature.
However he added that “Statements by the party leadership now asserting that my rights were protected throughout this process are totally incorrect.”
Stanley says he does not agree with the account given by Mary Lou McDonald. In iyt he explains how the process would effectively rule him out of the general election.
“This complaint, which I refute, was lodged with the party on 26 July, (and) that the 10-day nomination process opened for members to be put forward to contest the general election. In my case this had the effect of preventing me of having any hope of contesting it as a Sinn Fein candidate for Laois.”
Stanley strongly disputes the version of events given by Ms. McDonald on Morning Ireland (Monday 14 October) in which she said the statement from the complainant was received in August and that Stanley had been treated “without fear or favour”.
“It was received by Sinn Féin on the 26 July and I obtained written proof of this from them. Mary Lou Mc Donald has given wrong information by stating that it was only received on the 2 August. As a matter of fact, I made her aware in person on July 29 of it and that certain information regarding it had been circulated by party members”.
Deputy Stanley was incandescent that “information had been deliberately kept from me that there was a complaint or the nature of it. In actual fact I had to get my solicitor, 6 days later, to write to the party (31 July) to ascertain what was the nature of this complaint!”
He further asserted“In the intervening period from July 26, the character assassination was well underway by a certain party clique and has continued unabated since then, adding …there has been a significant abuse of process and when it was brought to the attention of the Sinn Féin “panel” it was simply brushed aside.
He ended his correspondence by reiterating his initial comments on the matter from over the past weekend in which he announced his resignation from the party.
