Tánaiste: 'It would be helpful' if Sinn Féin leader made personal statement on Brian Stanley

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald 'failed to deal' with the controversy surrounding Brian Stanley.  Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said it “would be helpful” if the Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald made a personal statement on the Brian Stanley affair, given her “woefully inadequate” response to date.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, Mr Varadkar said: “That's not a bad idea, I think that'd be helpful if she did. It was something I was going to let pass to be honest, I didn't say anything about yesterday.”

The Sinn Féin TD, who is chair of the Public Accounts Committee, has been caught up in controversy over a number of social media posts, one of which was taken as being homophobic towards the Tánaiste. 

Mr Stanley tweeted in 2017: "Yippee 4 d tory. it's Leo. U can do what u like in bed but don't look 4 a pay rise the next morning."

Speaking today, Mr Varadkar said: “Because you know I'm not sensitive and I'm not self-righteous and I don't believe in the cancel culture. 

And you know, people would say things that are homophobic or sexist or misogynistic and it doesn't necessarily mean that they're homophobic, or sexist or misogynistic.

Mr Varadkar said the test really is how do you respond when it was pointed out to you? How do you deal with it?

“And I think Mary Lou McDonald yesterday in her radio interview failed to deal with it. She tried to explain away what Brian Stanley wrote, and it is not the first time either,” he said.

“If you remember back in the election campaign, there was a Sinn Féin councillor who made remarks about me that were blatantly homophobic, and racist and no action was taken by Mary Lou McDonald at the time.

"Only when it was discovered he also made misogynistic remarks about young women that any action was taken,” he added.