SINN Féin has been accused of heavy-handed tactics amid claims that the party refused to give reasons why it was expelling one councillor and suspending another.
Cork County councillor Kieran McCarthy, who is based in Cobh, was informed yesterday that he was being ousted from Sinn Féin, while his Mallow-based colleague, Melissa Mullane, learned that she was being given a 12-month suspension.
Both councillors, who had expressed a desire to run in the Republic’s general election next year, have been told they have 21 days to appeal against the disciplinary action taken against them.
Speaking to The Irish News last night, Mr McCarthy claimed the party in Cork East was facing an internal revolt.
Tensions within the party became public last month when it emerged that party chiefs had ordered a review of the four-seater Cork East constituency, where Sandra McLellan has been Sinn Féin’s sitting TD since the 2011 general election.
Ms McLellan would have come under pressure if the party had decided to run more than one candidate in the constituency.
A Sunday newspaper reported that senior party figures had also stood down the local officer board while the review took place, culminating in a decision by the Ard Comhairle on Sunday to expel Mr McCarthy and suspend Ms Mullane.
Mr McCarthy, a party veteran who served four terms on Cobh Town Council before securing a county council seat last year, insisted he did not know why he had been ejected from the party because he had not been given a copy of the review report.
However, he claimed that his lobby to stand in the election against the party’s current TD “did not go down well”.
Mr McCarthy said that he had been confident that he would have secured support to contest the election at party convention level.
He revealed that he had yet to decide if he would now run as an Independent candidate
“It’s an option. I have being inundated with calls of support from people who are very surprised by how Sinn Féin has acted. People are disgusted, both within the party as well as my supporters,” he added.
Sinn Féin refused to say why it imposed sanctions on the two councillors.
Cork North-Central TD Jonathan O’Brien, who led the review, would only say that the two individuals had been informed of the decision made by the Ard Comhairle yesterday morning.
He also insisted that the findings of the review would be “kept internal” and not made public.
