SF ‘lets mask slip again’ in Stack ‘sadist’ tweet scandal
Senator should resign, says son of IRA victim
THE new leadership of Sinn Féin is accused of ‘letting the mask slip’ with its handling of yet another scandal over an elected representative’s use of social media.
Senator Máire Devine has been suspended from the party for three months after retweeting a post describing IRA victim Brian Stack as a “sadist prison officer”.
The punishment handed down is the same as that initially given to MP Barry McElduff after he posted a video with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head on
the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.
Last night, Mr Stack’s son Austin rejected a Sinn Féin apology, telling the Irish Independent he wants Ms Devine “to take the honourable action and resign”.
Despite the light punishment, new Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said she had taken a “zero tolerance” approach to Ms Devine’s “catastrophic error of judgment”.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin said last night “the Sinn Féin mask slips again”, adding any hope a change in the party’s leadership “would herald the dawn of a new era has now disappeared”.
It comes as the Sinn Féin hierarchy decided not to try to change its party policy opposing unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks until after the referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment.
THE new leadership of Sinn Féin has been accused of “letting the mask slip” with its handling of yet another scandal over an elected representative’s use of social media.
Senator Máire Devine has been suspended from the party for three months after retweeting a post describing IRA victim Brian Stack as a “sadist prison officer”.
Ms Devine went on to argue with Mr Stack’s son Austin on Twitter, suggesting his reaction to the tweet was overly sensitive.
The punishment handed down by Sinn Féin is the same as that given to Barry McElduff after he posted a video with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head on the anniversary of the IRA’s Kingsmill massacre.
Relatives of the victims of the 1976 atrocity described the tweet as callous and offensive and he eventually resigned as an MP.
Last night, Austin Stack told the Irish Independent that he wanted Ms Devine “to take the honourable action and resign her seat in the Seanad”.
He rejected Sinn Féin’s apology, saying the reality that Ms Devine would be “welcomed back into the parliamentary party after 12 short weeks is a clear indication to myself and my family that this matter has not been treated seriously by Sinn Féin’s new leaders”.
Mr Stack singled out the party’s new leader, Mary Lou McDonald, saying she had announced herself as a “new pair of shoes and things would be different”.
“Quite clearly that is not the case,” he said.
Brian Stack (48) was the chief prison officer in Portlaoise Prison when he was shot as he left an amateur boxing contest in 1983. The father-of-three was brain-damaged but lived for 18 months after the attack.
A second Sinn Féin member, Rosie Ní Laoghaire – who represents the party in Stillorgan – will not receive any sanction for also retweeting the offending message.
At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, Ms McDonald said she had “zero tolerance for people or actions that bring grief to victims or their families”. “Senator Devine understands fully that she made a catastrophic error of judgment in retweeting something that
came from a made-up account, I think,” she said.
The Dublin Central TD said her colleague made a further error by engaging in a series of exchanges with Austin Stack.
Ms McDonald said: “We take these matters seriously. I understand the nature of social media, that anybody can make a mistake. It’s so instant, these Twitter accounts and so on. But certainly things that cause hurt and offence to victims and their families have to be rectified immediately.
“The bigger mistake in my own view that Senator Devine made was not to automatically delete the tweet when it was brought to her attention, and not to have automatically apologised. That for me as party leader was the greater disappointment.”
Despite being suspended by the party, a statement was issued on behalf of Ms Devine by the Sinn Féin press office.
In it, she said it was never her intention “to cause any distress or hurt, particularly to victims of the conflict”.
“I want to offer my most sincere apologies to the family of the late Brian Stack,” she said.
However, Austin Stack said he did not believe the apology was sincere.
“The tweets she sent out subsequent to the retweet are very clear, she stood over it,” he said.
He added that if Ms Devine did not resign, he would be contacting the Standards In Public Office Commission.
Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin issued a statement last night headed: “The Sinn Féin mask slips again”. In it, he said any hope a change in the Sinn Féin leadership “would herald the dawn of a new era has now disappeared”.
“It is business as usual with Sinn Féin as another of their public representatives has engaged in commentary designed to inflict maximum insult on their rivals. It really is only a question of ‘who’s next?’
“It would appear that the standard three-month non-sanction is not making a difference. It is clear too, that Mary Lou McDonald is going to continue to talk the talk but not walk the walk,” he said.
‘I understand the nature of social media, that anybody can make a mistake. Twitter is so instant’