SF ‘MUST REPORT REILLY ASSAULT CLAIM’ TO GARDAI
SINN Fein’s incoming leader Mary Lou Mcdonald has been urged to intervene after a Dublin councillor resigned over an alleged assault.
Noeleen Reilly quit the party on Sunday night with immediate effect amid reports of an internal dispute over her claims.
Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin said the matter should be reported to gardai instead of the Sinn Fein National Executive.
He added: “The seriousness of the claims and indeed photographic evidence of an alleged assault on a now former Sinn Fein councillor which had been referred to Deputy Mary Lou Mcdonald are such that the issue should be referred to gardai.
“The soon to be president and leader of Sinn Fein, Mary Lou Mcdonald, went silent for days around the incident involving Barry Mcelduff in Tyrone. She cannot do so now.”
At the party’s Ard Comhairle on Saturday, Ballymun councillor Ms Reilly was suspended from the party for six months after another councillor made a complaint to Sinn Fein bosses.
And at the same meeting, it was decided veteran TD Dessie Ellis would be censured over comments made about her in the media.
In a statement, Ms Reilly said: “I have been the victim of an orchestrated bullying campaign by a number of people in Dublin Northwest.
“I first went to the party in Feb 2014 over this bullying and have consistently done so to try and get it stopped.
“My treatment included physical assaults, verbal abuse, total isolation, smear campaigns, the list goes.
“Unfortunately I was just up against the wrong people and this was never a battle I was going to win.”
Sinn Fein was contacted for comment.