The Laois TD Brian Stanley, and not Sinn Féin, was responsible for his “bad behaviour”, leader Mary Lou McDonald has said and the party has no further role in the matter.
Ms McDonald said that the party had done everything it had been obliged to do in hearing the complaint of sexual harassment made by a woman against Mr Stanley and also in relation to the counter-allegation made by Mr Stanley that she demanded a sum of €60,000 of him in order not to pursue matters further.
The Irish Times reported details of the draft report on the matter over the weekend including a proposed conclusion that the TD’s conduct on the night constituted “sexual harassment”.
“We did everything that we were obliged to do,” Ms McDonald said. “We did it in a thoughtful, methodical and in a fair way, and in a way that respected people’s privacy as well as everything else.
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“We have done our duty. Brian Stanley’s bad behaviour is a matter for him. I’m not responsible for that. I will not take responsibility for that. What I am responsible for, as the leader of the party, is the investigation and inquiry into the complaint (that was made), and it was done right.”
She was speaking at the launch of the party’s new health policy, A Prescription for Change, in Dublin on Tuesday.
Ms McDonald confirmed the party would select an alternative candidate to contest the general election in Laois. “We will go in there to mount a very strong campaign to hold what is a Sinn Féin seat,” she said.
Mr Stanley has indicated that he will contest the election as an Independent.
During the course of a long press conference, Ms McDonald indicated several times that the process was over as far as Sinn Féin was concerned. Responding to newspaper reports suggesting the woman felt let down by the process, she said she was not getting into any “he said, she said” debate and repeated that procedures were “followed to the letter”. She added that if the An Garda Síochána asks for any additional information, the party will facilitate that request.
When asked, Ms McDonald responded that she had not contemplated resigning over the controversies and also expressed regret about the manner of Mr Stanley’s departure from the party. He resigned in advance of the internal inquiry report being published, accusing certain figures within the party of conducting a “kangaroo court”.
“I think it’s a terrible pity that somebody who has been with Sinn Féin for so long is no longer with us. That’s always a matter of regret, of course. We all know Brian well, but I also have to say that when a complaint is entered against anybody, it has to be inquired into.
“It’s regrettable that he walked away. All of that is regrettable, but those are choices that he made, and he was free to make them,” she said.
Asked again about the statement issued under her name when Niall Ó Donnghaile resigned from Seanad Éireann – and which made no reference to the inappropriate texts he had sent to a 16-year-old boy – Ms McDonald said that the former senator was in a “mental health crisis” at the time but accepted it did not take the perspective of the young person into account.
Saying she regretted the statement, she said: “I do not offer that as an excuse for his behaviour. (Mr Ó Donnghaile) faced accountability and consequences. We were concerned about his frame of mind and his safety.
“With the benefit of hindsight, of course, the statement shouldn’t have been made, and I say that because it caused hurt to the young person. That is my concern.”
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