SINN FEIN COUNCILLORS CALL FOR FULL HEARING
TRIO MUST WAIT UNTIL AFTER ELECTION IN NORTH
THE three Sinn Fein County Councillors stripped of the party whip won’t receive a full hearing until after the Northern Irish elections.
Councillors John Snell, Gerry O’Neill and Oliver O’Brien are seeking a full hearing involving the party’s Árd Chomharle, Sinn Féin’s ruling body.
The dispute arose after the three fail to support Sinn Fein’s Cllr Michael O’Connor nomination for Chairman of Wicklow County Council and Cllr Nicola Lawless as deputy chairperson.
The three councillors were also unhappy with the manner in which Cllr Lawless was appointed group leader.
Cllr Snell, Cllr O’Neill and Cllr O’Brien all addressed a public meeting held in Ernie’s of Wicklow town last Thursday night for Sinn Fein members and supporters.
Cllr Snell said he was still a Sinn Fein member and he wanted a proper hearing into the decision to suspend the trio from the party whip.
‘I don’t like to call it an appeal. To me I am looking for a proper hearing from people who are prepared to listen to both sides,’ he said.
Cllr Snell added: ‘I am a member of Sinn Fein and will remain a member until someone at the highest level tells me otherwise and gives me a reason.
‘I remain as a local representative, People can be co-opted onto the council but it is the people of east Wicklow who voted for me.’
Cllr Gerry O’Neill also clarified his position.
‘We have not been expelled from Sinn Fein. We lost the whip but we are still active councillors and will remain active until the electorate say otherwise. I am totally appalled over the reasons given for taking the whip away from us.’
Cllr O’Neill said he was looking for ‘due process’ and was seeking a proper hearing into the matter.
‘I am looking to have the process sped up. I am too busy doing council work to get embroiled in the down and dirty. If people want to go down that line then that is their own problem.’
He added that he had received certain ‘reassurances’ from head office over how Sinn Fein operates in Wicklow.
‘Several promises have been made to me over the restructuring of Sinn Fein in this county. There were certain acknowledgements that things weren’t right.’
Cllr Oliver O’Brien said he was ‘disgusted’ and ‘shocked’ at the manner in which the three councillors were informed that Cllr Nicola Lawless was to become the party leader.
‘We just got a sheet of paper telling us that Nicola Lawless was the party leader. There was no consultation with us at all.’
Cllr O’Brien ‘naturally assumed’ that Cllr Snell would become the party leader once John Brady was elected as a TD.
The manner in which Cllr O’Connor was put forward as the County Chairman also rankled with Cllr O’Brien.
‘It wasn’t democratic and we were put in a corner. We weren’t even consulted and the only thing we could do was abstain.
‘Now the party is in disarray over one bad decision, followed by another,’ said Cllr O’Brien.