D evine accused of showing ‘no backbone’ with Seanad apology

THE son of IRA murder victim Brian Stack has accused Senator Máire Devine of showing “no backbone” for not apologising directly to the family for sharing an offensive social media post that described his father as a ‘sadistic prison officer’.

Sinn Féin senator Ms Devine apologised in the Seanad for sharing the post, claiming she hadn’t read the full Twitter post before she retweeted it.

Austin Stack last night said he didn’t accept that explanation and criticised her for not contacting the family directly to apologise. He added that if Ms Devine “had any sense of the hurt she has caused she would resign her Seanad seat”.

Ms Devine (pictured inset) was last week suspended from Sinn Féin for three months.

She requested Seanad speaking time to make an apology to the Stack family and said: “It was never my intention to cause more hurt to those already in deep distress.”

Brian Stack (48) was the chief prison officer in Portlaoise Prison when he was shot by an IRA member while leaving a boxing match in 1983.

The father-of-three died 18 months later.

Separately, gardaí are carrying out an investigation after a break-in at a Sinn Féin constituency office in south Dublin saw one man arrested while another remains at large.

Two men allegedly broke into the offices of party whip Aengus Ó Snodaigh and attempted to make away with a laptop and other items.

One of the laptops targeted was that of Ms Devine, who was last year selected to run as Mr Ó Snodaigh’s running mate in Dublin South-Central.

Gardaí were alerted and one man was arrested. Another suspect fled the scene and remains at large.

Keith Daly (34), from Alpine Heights, Clondalkin, Dublin, appeared in Cloverhill Court yesterday.

He has been charged with burglary and possession of a knife at the Sinn Féin offices on Ballyfermot Road at 4.30am on March 20. He also faces a charge of violent behaviour in a Garda station.

Mr Daly was remanded in custody at Cloverhill prison by Judge Victor Blake and will appear in court again on April 10.

Gardaí said their investigation remained ongoing in connection to the second male.