Sinn Féin councillor Caroline Dwane-Stanley has launched a blistering attack on the party following the election of her husband Brian as an Independent TD.
Brian resigned from Sinn Féin, with whom he was a member for 40 years, back in October, hitting out at what he called a ‘Kangaroo Court’ style inquiry.
He had been the subject of an internal Sinn Fein inquiry after a complaint was made by a female member of the party after they’d spent a night in a Dublin hotel in October 2023. It was accepted by both parties that nothing physical happened, nor anything criminal.
The woman in question later requested €60,000 in payment from Stanley before lodging an official complaint with Sinn Féin in July of this year.
Before the findings of the inquiry were made, Stanley resigned from Sinn Féin and a venomous war of words between him and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has ensued.
Stanley ran as an ‘Independent Republican’ and won the third seat in the Laois constituency, holding off the challenge of Sinn Féin’s new candidate Maria McCormack.
Brian’s wife Caroline had largely kept her silence throughout this saga. She remains a member of Sinn Féin but canvassed with Brian.
So far Sinn Féin haven’t addressed that issue – and speaking after Brian’s election on Sunday, Caroline hit out strongly at the Sinn Féin party.
“It’s a relief for us today,” she said, citing that she has been a member of the party for 27 years, while Brian is a member for 40.
“It’s a lifetime for both of us. We worked very hard all throughout those years to build an organisation. We met some of the best on that journey.
“We met great republicans, the length and breadth of the country. And I will never forget them. We’ll always have the memories with them.
“We went up the north, canvassed on many occasions. We canvassed up in Fermanagh, South Tyrone … We have continued to support our republicans in the north. And what I would say is that when we came together back then, there was one common thread with us.
“And that was to bring about peace to our country and to achieve a united Ireland. There was nothing, no self gain in this for me or Brian, absolutely nothing. I was happy to work behind the scenes and support Brian.”
Addressing the incident that brought about this controversy, she said: “Let’s be honest, we’re talking here about two adults.
“And when it got to a point where they became aware that blackmail was involved, and we have to say it as it is, you know, it was naked blackmail for €60,000.
“At that point, I firmly believe that should have been referred straight to the Gardaí.
“So I stand here before you and I say to you that five months after, as the only Sinn Féin representative at the moment in Laois, I haven’t received as much as a phone call from the party leadership or anyone in the party in five months,” she said.
And she hasn’t resigned?
“I haven’t resigned, no, and I haven’t been contacted. Nobody has contacted me to say, ‘look, we understand this is an awkward situation that you’re in and this is how we hope to try and handle things’.
“Instead, they poured petrol on the flames and then they came to town to humiliate Brian on his own home patch … the hurt that that done, not just to Brian, but to me, to his children, to his granddaughter.
“I have a lot of questions I want answers to. I want to know why my family was treated so despicably.
“I want to know what Sinn Féin have to say about blackmail. Why are they silent on blackmail? I want to know that.
“We have given our entire lives, worked so hard and never gained a penny out of it.
“I want to know. We’re like the rubbish that you’re done with now, there you are, we’ll dispose of you. You’re no longer of any use.
“I’m not angry. Let me just state that. I’m not angry.
“I’m just completely disillusioned. And I’m looking back over, I look back over Brian’s 40 year journey and my 27 year and I said to myself, what was it all for? And we’ve had that conversation at home and Brian said, ‘look, we’ve made the best and we have achieved a lot.’
“But it’s a sad day. And yet it’s a relief for me personally.
“People have been very receptive on the doors. There’s members here locally questioning why I’m still in the party and why I’m out canvassing. I was out canvassing with my husband.
“My husband and my family are front and centre. And I don’t know of any woman, the length and breadth of the country who wouldn’t put their family first before everything else.
“But my family are my priority and my family have been under attack by people who we sat in a room with, people that we consider to be friends, you know, and that’s now the toxic, toxic face of Laois Sinn Féin.
“I don’t wish them any bad, but what I will say to you is this, I’ve no announcement today to make about my resignation. I’m going nowhere until I get answers. I don’t suffer fools lightly.
“I won’t be bullied by anyone. If Sinn Féin want to punish me for standing by, my husband and my family, they can bring it on. Let them do that.
“Let the public judge them on that. They already threw Brian under the bus. If they want to try that with me, bring it on.
“But I’m going nowhere. I want answers. I want those questions answered.”
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