Cork East TD Sandra McLellan has broken her silence about an internal Sinn Féin row amid speculation that she threatened to leave the party if it did not take her side in the dispute.

The Sinn Féin councillor expelled from the party this week has been the subject of two internal inquiries into financial issues in the past 12 months.

"I missed you all," Mary Hanafin gushed to reporters in the manner of a faded film star who had just glimpsed the limelight once more thanks to a cameo role in a B movie.