Yet another SF politician quits due to ‘bully’ claims

A SECOND Sinn Féin politician in Galway has resigned in a week, becoming the latest to quit the party.

Yesterday, Gabe Cronnelly, a member of Galway County Council, announced his resignation, citing ‘ongoing unrest around the way the party is dealing with unethical behaviour’.

Last Thursday, Galway senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh resigned because of ‘inaction’ over ‘ongoing disciplinary issues’.

Sinn Féin has been subject to a series of claims of unacceptable behaviour and bullying.

Yesterday Mr Cronnelly, in a statement, said the concerns of ‘many decent members here in Galway, in relation to unacceptable behaviour by a small group of people’ had not been dealt with.

‘It is very hard to have faith in a party which preaches one thing publicly, but fails to live up to true Republican ideals itself,’ he added.

Sinn Féin said of Athenry-based Mr Cronnelly’s resignation that it had ‘worked hard to resolve the situation and... there was an agreement from all members to move forward together. This was on the basis of 17 recommendations from the review group being implemented across the constituency.’

‘We are continuing to work to resolve these issues,’ a spokesman said.

Last month, Tipperary councillor Séamus Morris formally resigned after saying he had ‘considered suicide’ over bullying in the party.

Similar bullying claims were made by Limerick councillor Lisa Marie Sheehy who left in September, the same month former Sinn Féin councillor June Murphy, who resigned in 2015, said the party was ‘power and money mad’.

Sinn Féin hierarchy has consistently denied claims of bullying and insists complaints are investigated properly. In September, party leader Gerry Adams said: ‘There is no culture of bullying and it’s actually very unfair to the members of this party that this allegation has been made.’