Brian Stanley, TD, breaks silence on Sinn Fein decision to pass on details of complaint against him to gardai
Taoiseach Simon Harris has called on Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald to “honestly put all the information out there” as he said that Deputy Stanley’s statement contradicted her comments
Brian Stanley has insisted he is the victim of “character assassination” as he welcomed Sinn Féin passing a complaint against him to the Gardaí.
In a statement issued through his solicitor on Monday, the Laois-Offaly TD claimed he had called for the matter to be brought to the attention of authorities a month before Sinn Féin referred it to Gardaí.
On Monday, Taoiseach Simon Harris called on Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald to “honestly put all the information out there” as he said that Deputy Stanley’s statement contradicted her comments.
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Deputy Stanley, a TD for Laois-Offaly and former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), announced his resignation from the party on Saturday night, blaming a "kangaroo court" internal probe against him over an undisclosed complaint.
On Sunday, Ms McDonald said the issue at the centre of a disciplinary investigation has been referred to gardaí.
She stated on Monday, the complaint was not initially deemed to be of a criminal nature as she defended not referring the complaint to Gardaí when it was initially received in either late July or early August.
Mr Stanley issued a statement on Monday, disputing Sinn Féin’s suggestion that his rights were protected throughout the process.
"I welcome the fact that Sinn Féin has belatedly referred the ‘complaint’ and matters concerning it to the Gardaí,” he said.
“This has been advocated by me for some time, including to a senior Sinn Féin official. The party should have referred it to the Gardaí once both myself and my legal representative brought certain serious matters to the attention of the ‘panel’ on September 11.
“Mary Lou McDonald has stated correctly that the complaint made against me is not of a criminal nature.
“Statements by the party leadership now asserting that my rights were protected throughout this process are totally incorrect.”
Speaking on Morning Ireland on Monday, Ms McDonald stated the complaint had been received on August 2. Mr Stanley refuted this, saying it was lodged on July 26 and he “obtained written proof of this”.
Mr Stanley continued: “As a matter of fact, I made her [Ms McDonald] aware in person on July 29 of it and that certain information regarding it had been circulated by party members.
“The information had been deliberately kept from me that there was a complaint or the nature of it. An ‘omerto’ [sic] was in place. One middle-ranking party member instructed other members that I was not to be informed of its existence.”
Mr Stanley said his solicitor wrote to the party on July 31 to “ascertain what was the nature of this complaint”.
“In the intervening period, i.e. from July 26, the process of character assassination was well underway by a certain party clique and has continued unabated since then,” he added.
Mr Stanley stated that there was a “significant abuse of process” and was “brushed aside” by the Sinn Féin panel, which consisted of a barrister and two other people. All three were Sinn Féin members.
He also stated he stood over his comments about an “inquiry”, during which he branded it a kangaroo court.
On Morning Ireland, Ms McDonald defended not referring the matter to Gardaí sooner as she defended the party’s handling of the scandal.
She said, “had the initial complaint been of a criminal nature, it would have gone straight to An Garda Siochana”, adding that it “was not”.
"The inquiry happened. In the course of the inquiries, a counter-allegation was also made. The inquiry's initial process concluded. It was written up. It was sent to both parties for comment, for accuracy and so on, as per good procedure,” she said.
"The Sinn Féin disciplinary process is supervised by a barrister, by a legal professional. It's at arm's length from the party itself.
"Once that was received by the head of the disciplinary committee, they sought further legal advice. Brian Stanley resigned.
"The matters were then handed to the party chair. For an abundance of caution, we have referred these matters to the Gardaí.”
Ms McDonald also said the complaint was received on August 2, despite a Sinn Féin statement on Sunday stating it was received in July. At the time of publication, a Sinn Fén spokesman had not responded to requests for clarification on this.
Taoiseach Simon Harris called on Ms McDonald to “honestly put all the information out there” as he suggested Mr Stanley’s statement “clearly contradicted” Ms McDonald’s position.
“The issues are serious. Whether it is the issues with the press officer convicted of sexual offences against children, whether it's the other issues we've read about in the media in recent days, and the Brian Stanley issue, which, quite frankly, I don't have the details of.
“It's important that the leader of the opposition doesn't engage in whataboutery and actually answers the very direct questions that I think people are rightly wanting to know the answers to.
“There are clear contradictions between the statement of Deputy Stanley and Deputy McDonald.”
Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe questioned Ms McDonald’s suggestion that she did not know the nature of the complaint against Mr Stanley.
He said: “Why is it that only as this matter was about to become public, that it was finally (referred) to An Garda Siochana. Why did that not happen in any of the other weeks leading up to the developments of this weekend?
“Is it because Sinn Fein believed their own party procedures are more important?”
Mr Stanley’s chairmanship of the PAC will be revoked by Sinn Féin. Several Government PAC members have now stated that they will not support another Sinn Féin politician taking over the role.
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