SF cllr Dwane Stanley says party ran a ‘toxic’ campaign against husband

CAROLINE Dwane Stanley, the wife of re-elected Independent Dáil candidate Brian Stanley, held nothing back in the election count centre when she lashed out at her Sinn Féin colleagues, accusing them of running “a toxic, dirty, despicable and disgusting campaign against Brian.” In October, then Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, resigned from the party following an internal investigation on foot of a complaint made against him by a party member.

Since then, Ms Dwane Stanely, who remains a Sinn Féin councillor, held her counsel, until she arrived in the count centre in Portlaoise on Sunday, where she hit out at both her party locally and at the party leadership.

Speaking to the ***Laois Nationalist***, cllr Dwane Stanley said: “I am relieved that Brian got elected, but a tinge of sadness, too, because of the road we’ve had to travel over the past few months. It’s been very tough and hard on our whole families.

“Behind the exterior, we are human beings, like everybody else. Brian has two children, Laura and Mark, and a granddaughter Leah and we watched in horror and shock what has gone on over the past few months. But behind the scenes, our families have been dealing with this.” Asked why she had not commented publicly on the issue that her husband was dealing with and why was she speaking publicly about it now, she said: “I had my own reasons for remaining silent. The first thing that anybody would do would be to try and to protect their family. That was my first and major priority. Everything else came after that, including Sinn Féin. My family comes front and centre as my number one priority.

“Also, I wasn’t going to engage with the media circus with what was going on and that was another reason why I decided to remain silent until the general election was out of the way and that I couldn’t have been accused by anyone of trying to sabotage their campaign. Now that the election is behind us, I’m in a position to comment.” When asked whether she was going to remain a Sinn Féin member, she said: “At the moment I’ve questions I want answers to from the party leadership and why our family was treated so despicable. His family watched on in horror as Brian was practically criminalised under Dáil privilege from a party that he had given over 40 years of his life to.

“Sadly, over the past few months I haven’t had a phone call from the party leadership, absolutely nobody from it. It did surprise me, because the party has a care of duty to all members and that included me.” While she said she was “not angry” over the way she has been treated by Sinn Féin, she said that she was disillusioned.

Asked if she was disillusioned enough to resign from the party, she said: “I want my questions answered first and I’m going nowhere until I get those questions answered. And, If I don’t get the answers, I’ll make my decision then.

I want to know what’s Sinn Féin’s stance on blackmail. They’re silent on blackmail. I also want to know why Sinn Féin dealt with four recent cases involving party members differently, compared to why Brian’s private life, involving two adults, and how that was investigated? So what is the process in Sinn Féin in handling investigations,” she said.

Asked if she had asked those questions of the party leadership, cllr Dwane Stanley said: “Nobody has contacted me. The party held meetings here, there and everywhere around Laois and I wasn’t asked to a single one of them. I was not contacted at all about any one of those meetings. I wasn’t contacted to campaign for the Sinn Féin candidate in Laois. All I got from the local party was standard emails, like every party member received.

“We’ve had leading party members such as Mary Lou McDonald, Pearse Doherty and Matt McCarthy, who came out and said that Brian had a very fair, confidential and transparent hearing. But they brought evidence before that inquiry, that local members in Laois were going around with the complainant’s complaint in their arse pocke, flashing it around and showing it to everybody. They tried to destroy Brian’s name and reputation before he even put his foot inside the door to allow him the opportunity to speak about it.” Asked had she any comment to make on her party colleague Maria McCormack’s election bid in Laois, she said: “No, but what I would say is that, sadly and unfortunately, members of Sinn Féin in Laois ran a toxic, dirty, despicable and disgusting campaign against Brian. I will stand over that because I have the proof and have the contents of what was said about Brian after he left the party from their own Laois Sinn Féin WhatsApp page. A member of that group came to me and said they were very concerned that I and my family were being targeted.

“I’ve had the contents of that WhatsApp group for the past few weeks. At any time I could have exposed that, but decided not to and not to stoop to that level.” She said: “Today is my family’s and Brian’s day and now I am in a position to speak about what we had to endure.”