Brian Stanley guilty of serious misconduct, Sinn Féin investigation finds – The Irish Times

An internal Sinn Féin investigation into allegations against TD Brian Stanley had reached a preliminary conclusion of serious misconduct against him before he resigned from the party on Saturday evening.

Mr Stanley fiercely disputed the conduct of the inquiry, suggesting it “resembled some sort of kangaroo court”.

The Irish Times understands that the investigation, opened following a complaint against Mr Stanley, concluded that the complaint against him was true, that he had breached Sinn Féin’s code of ethics and had found to have committed serious misconduct against him.

A draft of the findings was circulated to parties to the process last week and they were invited to make comments or observations before the inquiry makes its final recommendations. However, this process was interrupted by the resignation of Mr Stanley.

In a statement released on Sunday afternoon, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said “the matter has been referred to An Garda Síochána”.

When later asked why, if it was of such seriousness, the matter had first been investigated by the party before being referred to the gardaí, Ms McDonald said it had been done by “ be very careful.”

News of Mr Stanley’s resignation late on Saturday evening was greeted with shock inside and outside Sinn Féin. As chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee, he was one of the party’s best-known TDs and played a particularly prominent role during the committee’s hearings into the RTÉ scandals last year. Sinn Féin sources said they would quickly seek to remove him as committee chairman.

His resignation statement was scathing of the investigative process.

“In recent months, a certain clique within the party has gone to extreme lengths to damage my reputation and personality. No effort was spared by them in this regard,” he said.

“Following a ‘complaint’, I was recently referred to an internal ‘investigation’ within the party.

“Given what happened and the work of my legal team, what is very clear is that this process lacked objectivity, was seriously flawed and lacking in impartiality.

“This ‘investigation’ has been shown to lack any credibility, including a significant abuse of process. In many ways it resembled a sort of kangaroo courtship. The legal review of this matter will continue.

Mr Stanley said that “after 40 years of service to Sinn Féin, I will now continue to work as an independent Republican TD on behalf of the voters, who have always treated me fairly and respectfully”.

But Sinn Féin insisted Mr Stanley’s rights “have been protected throughout this process”, stressing he has been represented by a barrister and barrister throughout the process.

“We will not ignore or hide from difficult issues when they arise,” Ms. McDonald’s statement said.

“These are not results that anyone likes to see, but let me be clear: we have robust procedures in place to deal with these issues and they will be followed at all times and will apply equally to all members of the party.”

Repeated efforts to contact Mr Stanley yesterday were unsuccessful.

The resignation is a further blow to Sinn Féin, which is reeling from recent revelations that two senior party officials in Northern Ireland referred to a former party press secretary who was the subject of a investigation into sexual offenses against children. He has since pleaded guilty.

Last week, Kildare TD Patricia Ryan resigned from the party after her local organization rebelled against an order not to ask “negative” or “inappropriate” questions of Ms McDonald at a festive event.

There were also reports over the weekend that another senior party member had resigned after allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to a 17-year-old party member. The party member was suspended by Sinn Féin in September 2023 and the incident was reported to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and social services.