BREAKING: Brian Stanley announces resignation from Sinn Féin ...

Laois Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has announced his resignation from Sinn Féin in a statement this evening.

Stanley has been a TD for Laois-Offaly since 2011 and was first elected to Laois County Council in 1999.

He says he has been the subject of an internal party ‘Kangaroo Court’ and is ending his 40-year association with the party.

He says he will continue to serve as an “Independent Republican TD”.

“I am announcing my resignation from Sinn Féin with immediate effect,” he said in a statement this evening

“After 40 years of service to Sinn Féin, I will now continue working as an Independent Republican TD of behalf of constituents, who have always treated me in a fair and respectful manner.

“In recent months a certain clique within the party have gone to extreme lengths to damage my reputation and character. No efforts have been spared by them in this regard.

“On foot of a ‘complaint’ I was recently brought before an internal party ‘inquiry’.

“Given what has transpired and the work of my legal team, what is very clear, is this process lacked objectivity, was seriously flawed and was devoid of impartiality.

“This ‘inquiry’ has been shown to have lacked any shred of credibility, not least due to a significant abuse of process. In many ways it resembled a type of kangaroo court. Legal examination of this matter will continue.

“Considering what I have experienced and how Sinn Féin has dealt with this and other matters across the wider party in recent months, I can no longer have confidence in it”.

Stanley’s resignation is the third Sinn Féin public representative in Laois to leave the party in recent months. Portarlington-based councillor Aidan Mullins recently announced his decision to resign from the party in August while Kildare South TD Patricia Ryan, who is from Ballybrittas and whose constituency currently takes in Ballybrittas, Killenard and Portarlington, announced her decision to leave the party earlier this week.

As it stands, Brian Stanley’s wife, Caroline Dwane-Stanley is the only Sinn Féin elected representative now in Laois. She is a councillor in the Portlaoise Municipal District.