Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley resigns from party

The chairman of the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee, Brian Stanley, has resigned as a Sinn Féin TD.

In a statement issued on Saturday night, Mr Stanley claims he had been treated unfairly in an internal investigation.

"I am announcing my resignation from Sinn Féin with immediate effect. After 40 years of service to Sinn Féin, I will now continue working as an Independent Republican TD of behalf of constituents, who have always treated me in a fair and respectful manner," Mr Stanley said.

"In recent months a certain clique within the party have gone to extreme lengths to damage my reputation and character. No efforts have been spared by them in this regard.

"On foot of a 'complaint’, I was recently brought before an internal party ‘inquiry’. Given what has transpired and the work of my legal team, what is very clear, is this process lacked objectivity, was seriously flawed and was devoid of impartiality," he added.

"This ‘inquiry’ has been shown to have lacked any shred of credibility, not least due to a significant abuse of process. In many ways it resembled a type of kangaroo court. Legal examination of this matter will continue.

"Considering what I have experienced and how Sinn Féin has dealt with this and other matters across the wider party in recent months, I can no longer have confidence in it," Mr Stanley said.

Mr Stanley has been a TD for Laois-Offaly since 2011 and was first elected to Laois County Council in 1999.

In 2020, Mr Stanley faced renewed pressure following criticism of a tweet he posted about former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in 2017.

Mr Stanley has said he has always been a supporter of LGBT rights.

His X (formerly Twitter) account has since been deactivated.

It comes as Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South Patricia Ryan resigned from the party this week.

The move comes ahead of the party's selection convention for the constituency next week.

Sinn Féin has so far selected more than 50 candidates to run in the upcoming election.

The party said it will not make a final decision on its overall number of candidates for some time yet, amid suggestions that it could ultimately run up to 64 candidates.

It is understood that Ms Ryan was likely to face competition at the selection convention from Kildare Councillor Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh.