Daniel McConnell: PAC chair Stanley escapes with a fool's pardon

Brian Stanley told his committee colleagues that he was 'genuinely sorry' for sending a tweet appearing to laud two separate IRA operations which led to the deaths of nearly 40 British soldiers

Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, apologising for posting a controversial tweet about the IRA murder of 18 British soldiers during the Troubles. Picture: Oireachtas TV/PA Wire

Condemned by the Taoiseach and chastised by the Ceann Comhairle, poor Brian Stanley cut a sorrowful figure as he took to his chair at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday evening.

Amid a firestorm over his crass and stupid statement on Twitter over the weekend, Stanley was in damage control mode.

We knew he would apologise, but the tone and tenor of his delivery was important if he was to kill off this controversy.

He told his committee colleagues that he was “genuinely sorry” for sending a tweet appearing to laud two separate IRA operations which led to the deaths of nearly 40 British soldiers.

In a low and hesitant tone, he said he had “fallen short of the standards that I set for myself, and the standards expected from the Dáil, and for that I’m genuinely sorry”.

Watch live coverage of today's Committee of Public Accounts meeting on Business Of The Committee #seeforyourselfhttps://t.co/EP0QExhuQg https://t.co/CmIRiH50i5

— Houses of the Oireachtas - Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) December 2, 2020

He said that he had sent the tweet, not in tribute to violence, but in order to “highlight the disastrous decision to partition the country almost 100 years ago”.

“I deleted the tweet and I apologised,” he said.

On Sunday, I apologised, I want to repeat that apology here today and to repeat that apology to all my colleagues."

Stanley’s position as chair was not in question as his leader, Mary Lou McDonald, had stated she would not be removing him from the €10,000-a-year post.

As head of the Dáil’s spending watchdog, Stanley’s tweet got more attention than it probably would have if he were in any other backbench or committee position. Such is the status of the PAC.

The Dáil’s only standing committee, it is always chaired by an opposition TD and operates on non-partisan grounds.

Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley has publicly apologised for any offence caused by what he said was the 'insensitive nature' of a tweet he posted over the weekend.

Mr Stanely was speaking at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, which he chairs | Read more: https://t.co/2X5xl6CtCG pic.twitter.com/JKW1bQhfN7

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 2, 2020

However, the response from Mr Stanley’s colleagues yesterday saw that principle of non-partisan stances dispensed with.

Fine Gael TD Colm Burke suggested Sinn Féin had been engaging in some form of a campaign in relation to the sending of such tweets, while Jennifer Carroll McNeill suggested that Mr Stanley and his party actively consider their “position in parliament”, while asking if he had been asked to delete the tweet.

Fianna Fáil’s Paul McAuliffe said that had a TD from any other party done what Mr Stanley had done, there would have been a Sinn Féin “pile on”.

Mr Stanley’s Sinn Féin comrades on the committee came to his rescue and the whole matter was over in 20 minutes.

The PAC, for now, willing to give the well-liked Mr Stanley a fool’s pardon.