Sinn Féin grassroots members were told not to ask Mary Lou McDonald “negative” or “inappropriate” questions at a recent party event, sparking a major row over alleged “censorship” amid nearly a dozen resignations.
Eleven members of the Monasterevin Kildangan Sinn Féin cumann have now quit as the fallout over the resignation of Kildare South TD Patricia Ryan on Thursday deepens.
In an interview with KFM on Friday, Ms Ryan cited dissatisfaction over the handling of local tensions as one of the reasons she quit the party, alongside the fact questions to the leadership had been “vetted”.
The Irish Times has learned that before an event to “rally the troops” in the Osprey Hotel in Naas earlier this week, the Kildare Sinn Féin county board, known as the comhairle ceantair, told grassroots members of local branches to submit their proposed questions into a WhatsApp group in advance. The chair of the comhairle ceantair said they did not want anyone to let the group down with “inappropriate negative-type questions”.
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Members of Ms Ryan’s local cumann in Monasterevin Kildangan took objection to the requests, asking what was meant by “inappropriate” and “negative” questions.
They were told that it was for the purpose of ensuring the questions were “relevant”. The cumann members objected again and asked who ultimately would decide whether a question was appropriate. One member said there was “some concern” that the county board was “trying to suppress free speech by vetting or otherwise restricting what can be asked”.
In response, another party member said: “This isn’t about free speech, this is about respect for our party president.”
Nick Greaves, who has now resigned as chairman of the Monasterevin Kildangan cumann, confirmed that 11 people including Ms Ryan handed in their resignation notices.
Asked about Ms Ryan’s comments on KFM that questions to the leadership were “vetted”, Mr Greaves said: “There was a meeting at the Osprey Hotel in Naas which Mary Lou McDonald was to attend, a ‘rally the troops’ exercise to raise morale among the activists. The comhairle ceantair asked who was going to go, but then they wanted to know what questions we would be asking so that no one would be asking inappropriate or embarrassing questions. We questioned that, because it came across as censorship.”
Cumann secretary Aaron Sheppard, who has also resigned, said the request came across to him as an attempt to “silence” grassroots members.
In response to queries, a Sinn Féin spokesman said: “We were aware there were issues in the constituency. There were no formal complaints made. The party attempted to resolve the issues arising through mediation and discussion. This was not successful. We don’t believe there was vetting of questions.”
When the content of the messages was put to the party, a spokesman said that “if what is alleged did transpire, that was inappropriate”.
Mr Sheppard said a “disconnect” had developed between the party and grassroots members in recent months and claimed a “nasty” environment had spread across the Sinn Féin structures in Kildare South.
Supporters of Ms Ryan, who was elected to the Dáil in 2020, also believe she was being forced out by the party in favour of other candidates for the forthcoming general election.
The TD has denied she quit when she heard that it would be a contested selection convention, saying she felt “pushed” out by the failure of Sinn Féin’s leadership to address local issues.
Asked why he quit, Mr Greaves said: “The atmosphere had become so toxic. My feeling was that Patricia isn’t a perfect TD but she was a more than adequate TD and it makes strategic sense to put the incumbent forward again. She was doing the job, she got elected, it made sense.”
Timing is everything when it comes to general elections
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