Stack calls for more severe punishment for SF senator
AUSTIN Stack has questioned why a Sinn Féin TD who defied the party on abortion has been slapped with the same punishment as the senator who shared an offensive social media post about his murdered father.
Senator Máire
Devine was suspended from
Sinn Féin for three months for retweeting a post that described IRA murder victim Brian Stack as a “sadistic prison officer”.
Offaly TD Carol Nolan was given the same period of suspension for defying the party’s line on abortion in the Dáil.
Sinn Féin supports repealing the Eighth Amendment. Ms Nolan was the only Sinn Féin TD to vote against the bill to allow for a referendum on abortion.
Mr Stack said Ms Nolan was a politician voting with her conscience. He accused Ms Devine of sharing a Twitter post that was “basically defaming a dead servant of the State”. He said the two issues “aren’t comparable in any way shape or form”.
He said he still believed Ms Devine should face a more severe punishment and be expelled from Sinn Féin. Brian Stack was the chief prison officer in Portlaoise Prison when he was shot in 1983. He died 18 months later. Speaking in the Seanad, Independent senator Gerard Craughwell called for Ms Devine to make a statement explaining why she retweeted the post about Mr Stack. He said Mr Stack “served this country through the Troubles” and was “murdered by thoughtless people”.
Sinn Féin senator Rose Conway Walsh said her colleague made “a very, very serious error”. She said Mary Lou McDonald had acted “swiftly and decisively” to suspend her.