Sinn Fein denies appointing Mairead Farrell to PAC in anticipation of Stanley controversy

Sinn Féin whip Padraig Mac Lochlainn accused the other parties of “bottling it” and vowed his party is “ready for the fight” when Mairead Farrell's appointment is debated in the Dáil next Tuesday.

Sinn Fein has denied appointing Mairead Farrell to the Public Accounts Committee because it knew the Brian Stanley controversy was about to break.

Party whip Padraig Mac Lochlainn rejected the claim yesterday amid Sinn Fein efforts to have Ms Farrell appointed as chairperson in place of the suspended Laois-Offaly TD.

Ms Farrell attended her first PAC meeting last week following an announcement in August that she would replace Imelda Munster on the committee. Ms Munster is not contesting the next election.

This has led some TDs to privately speculate that this was a preemptive appointment as Sinn Féin were aware of the complaint against Mr Stanley and anticipated having to replace him.

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When this was put to Mr Mac Lochlainn, he denied it categorically and branded the suggestion “utter nonsense and pathetic”.
A vote will take place next week on Deputy Farrell’s appointment.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn also accused the other parties of “bottling it” and vowed his party is “ready for the fight” when the issue is debated in the Dáil next Tuesday.

Mr Stanley resigned from the party last week and is involved in a Sinn Féin inquiry which has now been referred to Gardaí.
However, he is still the chair of PAC. As the largest opposition party in the Dáil, Sinn Féin holds the PAC chair.

At a meeting of the Committee of Selections on Thursday morning, Sinn Féin proposed replacing Mr Stanley as PAC chair with Ms Farrell and also appointing Matt Carthy to the committee.

It is understood that the Labour Party’s Whip, Duncan Smith, restated the party’s position that it would not support a new Sinn Féin PAC chair until all questions on the Stanley resignation have been answered.

Sources said that Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton and Fianna Fáil’s Cormac Devlin also expressed reservations about a new Sinn Féin chairperson.

The Social Democrats’ Cian O’Callaghan said his party’s view was that the matter would go to a vote in the Dáil.

Sources told the Irish Mirror that Mr Mac Lochlainn called out Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Social Democrats, with TDs at the meeting as “tetchy” and “spicy”. One noted the situation was “unchartered territory” and people were unclear how to deal with the issue.

People Before Profit, the Regional Independents and the Rural Independents all stated that it was Sinn Féin’s right to appoint a new PAC chair.

Speaking to the Irish Mirror, Mr Mac Lochlainn argued that other parties had the opportunity to oppose the Sinn Féin proposal but “bottled it” and let it go to a Dáil vote instead.

He described the meeting as a “circus” and accused Labour and the Social Democrats of treating them differently than how they have treated the Government parties.

“Ministers resigned in this government, all these controversies, there was never any issue with committee replacements,” he said.

“When [the Ceann Comhairle] put the motion again at the end [of the meeting], it was agreed without any dissent. The motion to select Mairead Farrell and also for Matty Carthy, all the political parties agreed on the motion going to the Dall without debate. They bottled it. They said they were going to block it. This is our democratic right based on our political strength.

He continued: “I made this point directly to, particularly, the Labour Party and Social Democrats [...] they have supported and facilitated replacements on committees following controversies, ministers resigning. Why now, when it comes to Sinn Féin, have they taken this position?”

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