Sinn Féin’s latest crisis is a disaster for the party at the worst possible time

The resignation from Sinn Féin of Laois TD Brian Stanley on Saturday, and the party’s referral to the gardaí of information it gathered during an internal inquiry into an unspecified allegation made against Stanley, has triggered a fresh crisis for Mary Lou McDonald.

The Sinn Féin leader is now struggling on multiple fronts as the party faces demands for an explanation as to why Gardaí were not involved in the matter at an earlier stage.

McDonald must also be worried that this latest bad news story will combine with other crises of recent weeks to set in voters’s minds an image of a party in disarray.

With a general election looming, this latest distraction from Sinn Féin’s favoured issues of housing and health has come at the worst possible time.

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