Former SF councillor to sue over expulsion

The Sinn Féin councillor expelled from the party after serious bullying and financial allegations is to sue his former colleagues instead of appeal the ruling because he has “no faith” in the process.

Cork county councillor Kieran McCarthy confirmed the move last night after the deadline for an appeal against the decision to remove him ran out.

After a lengthy review into claims sitting Cork East TD Sandra McLellan was the victim of a local bullying campaign by party colleagues, Cork county councillor Melissa Mullane was suspended for 12 months.

At the same disciplinary hearings, Mr McCarthy was also expelled due to unrelated financial issues relating to a controversial credit union loan.

Ms Mullane is understood to have appealed the decision against her, after previously confirming her “intention to appeal my suspension” at the height of the scandal.

However, Mr McCarthy last night told the Irish Examiner he will not appeal as he has “no faith” in the process, and has instead instructed his lawyer to take court action.

The Cobh-based representative — who has previously claimed he was expelled to remove competition against the sitting TD — said his lawyer informed Sinn Féin of the move “two weeks” ago, requesting detailed information on why the expulsion was made.

However, he said that to date the party had not responded to the request, with Mr McCarthy saying he intends to take legal action over what happened.

The situation emerged as a Sinn Féin spokesperson said the organisation has “received correspondence from both councillors in the review” who have raised issues with the investigation’s “outcomes” and the “processes” involved.

However, the spokesperson declined to comment further on the “nature of the correspondence”, saying it is a “private matter” and should not be discussed publicly.

In the aftermath of the suspension and expulsion decisions late last month, a large number of Sinn Féin grass-roots members in East Cork were said to have handed in their resignations, despite the party insisting that it had not been informed of the departures.