Brian Stanely's wife to represent Sinn Féin on EU advisory body

The wife of former Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has been appointed to represent the party on an EU advisory body.

Caroline Dwayne-Stanley, a Sinn Féin councillor in Laois, has been appointed to the EU Committee of the Regions.

It comes just a week after her husband Brian left Sinn Féin as he claimed he had been subjected to an injury akin to a “kangaroo court”.

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Sinn Féin later confirmed that a complaint and a counter complaint have been referred to the Gardaí.

At Cabinet on Tuesday, Minister O'Brien got approval for the nomination of Ireland's representatives to the EU Committee of the Regions for the next five years, which will run from January 2025.

The Committee of the Regions is an EU advisory body composed of locally and regionally elected representatives coming from all 27 Member States. It represents local and regional governments in the EU and nominees must be elected representatives.

Ireland has an allocation of nine full members along with nine alternate members, or 18 in total. The places are allocated based on local election results and also have regard to gender and regional balance.

Following the 2024 local government elections, Fianna Fáil and Finna Fáil both got three full members and two alternates. Independents have one full member and three alternates.

Sinn Féin has one full member and one alternate member. Labour has one full member and the Greens have one alternate member.

A Government spokesman confirmed that Sinn Féin’s representative is Caroline Dwayne-Stanley. The Irish Mirror contacted Sinn Féin last night to ask if the party nominated the councillor and when this decision was made.

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