What next for the Sinn Féin Party in Laois after Stanley's departure

FOLLOWING Brian Stanley’s dramatic resignation from Sinn Féin over the weekend, the Laois Nationalist spoke to a long-serving local member of the party about the possible effects it would have at a local level.

He refused to go on the record, but said: “The party is in utter turmoil.” Currently, Sinn Féin has just one public representative in Laois – cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley, the wife of deputy Brian Stanley.

The member, who did not wish to be named, said that while rumours had been circulating about deputy Stanley over the past few weeks, he said that he was unaware of the exact nature of the alleged complaint made against him.

He said: “First Aidan Mullins, then Patricia Ryan, now Brian is gone. I am aware that other members are now assessing their positions within the party in Laois. Brian will bring a sizeable number of members with him. Whatever the rights and wrongs of Brian’s case, it leaves Caroline (cllr Dwane Stanley) in a very awkward situation – loyalty to her husband, or to the party?” Last week, Kildare South Sinn Féin TD Patricia Ryan, who represents people in the Ballybrittas, Killenard and Portarlington areas of Laois, announced her decision to resign from the party, claiming she had been curtailed in her social media posts and that questions to leader Mary Lou McDonald had been vetted ahead of a party meeting.

Two months ago, Portarlington-based cllr Aidan Mullins, who represents Graiguecullen/Portarlington Municipal District, also resigned from the party after 51 years, claiming it attempted to censor his comments and what he was posting on social media.

The Laois Nationalist contacted deputy Stanley and cllr Dwane Stanley as well as the party’s cathaoirleach in Laois for comment several times on the matter before we went to print, but received no reply.

While deputy Stanley had been Sinn Féin’s preferred candidate to contest the upcoming general election in the three-seat Laois constituency, his sudden resignation has now thrown the party into disarray, with it now scrambling to find a suitable candidate to take his place.

There was little or no party organisation in Laois when Brian Stanley unsuccessfully contested the 1994 Portlaoise Town Commission elections. Five years later, he was successful and was elected to Portlaoise Town Commission, renamed Portlaoise Town Council in 2002.

He contested his first general election in 2002, but missed out with 2,600 first-preference votes.

The 2004 local elections saw him top the poll on the town council with 773 votes and was elected on the first count to the county council with 1,020 votes.

His failed to get elected in his second attempt for a Dáil seat in 2007 and was eliminated on the seventh count after securing 3,656 votes.

Since then, he has contested three further general elections and on each occasion was elected, as his first-preference votes increased from 8,032 in 2011, to 8,242 in 2016 and in the 2020 general election took the first of five seats on the first count with 16,654 first-preference votes.