Sensational twist to MacSharry saga as TD resigns from FF
HIS resignation ends his link with the party dating back to when he was first elected to the Oireachtas in 2002. In his statement Deputy MacSharry described the timing of the filing of the complaint by Cllr Gilroy as “unquestionably suspicious”. He stated: “I wish to put on the record the text of the complaint made against me by Cllr. Donal Gilroy to show the highly politically motivated nature of it and its unquestionably suspicious timing on the eve of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting for my re-admission. It is an unwarranted attack on the contribution of me and my family to political life with over 40 years’ service in the Oireachtas.”
However, speaking on
Wednesday morning to the Sligo Weekender, Cllr Gilroy refuted the claim that his complaint was “suspicious” and was timed to create a difficulty for Deputy MacSharry when he was seeking readmission to the Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party. “There’s stuff out there today from Marc about the timing of this being orchestrated, that is simply not the case.
“This was one of a series of messages from him, there were earlier texts which I ignored but his message on October 3 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had ignored the other ones before that as I thought that was the best thing to do,” Cllr Gilroy told the Sligo Weekender.
He added: “I’m also being told that I filed the complaint because I intend to run in the general election myself. That’s nonsense. That’s not the case. I am 58 and I am too old for all that and you can quote me on that. I just want to nail that claim which has been made more than once in recent days,” he said.
In reference to the message, Deputy MacSharry conceded in his statement on Wednesday morning that the language he used was “robust”.
He stated: “It was a robust issue and robust language was used.”
In his letter of complaint about the WhatsApp message, Cllr Gilroy said he considered “this behaviour to be bullying of Deputy MacSharry aimed at me personally”. He said he had not spoken to the Taoiseach about his complaint. “I’ve spoken to Micheál Martin probably four times in my entire life and the longest one would have been about four years ago, and it was in the company of Marc.”
Cllr Gilroy said his belief is that Deputy MacSharry resigned because he realised the language he used on the WhatsApp group message would “not be taken as acceptable” by the Fianna Fáil party: “Look it’s not the worst I have heard, but it’s also not the best and in terms of any political party and in the Fianna Fáil party in this instance it was never going to be acceptable, that’s my view and as far as I am concerned everyone is entitled to dignity in the workplace.”
Deputy MacSharry’s resignation from Fianna Fáil considerably changes the political landscape in the Sligo-Leitrim constituency with only one government TD, Deputy Frank Feighan now in situ in the constituency.
In his statement Deputy MacSharry said Taoiseach Micheál Martin had failed as leader of the party to allow a proper investigation of a recent complaint on a political issue made against him by a Fianna Fáil councillor in my constituency.
Instead of arranging an investigation of this local political dispute, Deputy MacSharry claims that the Taoiseach used the complaint for political gain at national level to delay and prevent his re-admission to the parliamentary party:
“This recent complaint related to exchanges between us over several months on services I have secured for Sligo University Hospital and their significance. It was a robust issue and robust language was used. Instead of arranging an investigation of this local political dispute, the Taoiseach used the complaint for political gain at national level to delay and prevent my re-admission to the parliamentary party. He knows that I am critical of his performance as Taoiseach and his support within the parliamentary party is wafer thin.
“My re-admission would have been a problem for him, so he has used this complaint for his own purposes.
“The informal investigation promoted by the Taoiseach is a nonstarter as the confidentiality required has been broken by the public statements of the Taoiseach and The Chief Whip.
“The Taoiseach has tried to brush this under the carpet with claims that I have not engaged.
“This is despite numerous correspondence from I to him, the Chief Whip and party officials on the matter setting out my position clearly.”
LEFT: Marc MacSharry’s resignation letter which was distributed yesterday, Wednesday.