This article is from page 3 of the 2012-01-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
CLARE’S only elected Sinn Fein representative, Shannon-based councillor Cathy McCafferty, has been suspended from the party while her husband, prominent party member and former leading light of the local Sinn Fein organisation, Eugene McCafferty, has been expelled from the party.
The action was taken by the Sinn Fein top brass at two separate meeting held in late December. Both Councillor McCafferty and Mr McCafferty have a number of weeks to appeal the decisions, but should Cllr McCafferty’s suspension become permanent she will be asked by the organisation to give up her seat on Shannon Town Council to allow another party member to be co-opted.
A spokesperson from the Sinn Fein national organisation in Dublin confirmed that one person had been expelled from the party in Clare but would not confirm the identity of the person.
“We don’t have any official public spokesperson in Clare at the moment. We are restructuring the party locally at the moment and will have someone in place in the near future,” said the party spokesperson.
“Regarding the expulsions from the party – this matter is being handled internally by the party and we won’t be making any comment on it whatso-ever.”
Despite this a number of sources within Sinn Fein, both from Clare and within the Munster region, confirmed to The Clare People that Mr Eugene McCafferty had been expelled and that Cllr McCafferty had been suspended. The Clare People contacted Mr McCafferty in relation to this matter but he declined to confirm or deny his expulsion from the party only saying that he “was not and had never been” a Sinn Fein organiser in Clare. The Clare People also contacted Cllr McCafferty in relation to her suspension from the party but no response was forthcoming at the time of going to press. The Clare People also contacted the Clare Sinn Fein organisation in relation to this story but no official comment was forthcoming at the time of going to press.
Sinn Fein did not run a candidate in Clare in last year’s General Election, despite the party securing its position as the fourth most popular party in the country in the national poll.
The Clare wing of the party has been hit with a number of high profile defections in recent years with a number of former election candidates walking away from the local organisation.