Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy says story is bad for party

Sinn Féin's Director of Elections Matt Carthy said that before Saturday he did not know that Brian Stanley would not be standing as a general election candidate for the party.

Speaking last night on RTÉ's Upfront with Katie Hannon, it was put to the Cavan–Monaghan TD that Mr Stanley said that the timing of the complaint "had the effect of preventing" him from contesting as a Sinn Féin candidate for Laois.

"I was appointed Director of Elections last week and I don't follow every constituency convention," Mr Carthy said.

"I assume sitting TDs are seeking election unless someone tells me otherwise, and up until last week the only instance of that was Imelda Munster in Louth.

"Up until Saturday I would have assumed that Brian was our candidate, and I would have been happy with that because my experience of working with Brian Stanley has always been a positive one," Mr Carthy said.

He said he first heard about the matter on Saturday night but added that a journalist had contacted him "a number of weeks ago" to ask if he was aware of a complaint made against Brian Stanley.

While Mr Carthy said he believed this was "actually a good news story for Irish politics", when asked if he thought it was a good news story for his party he said, "no I don't."