Woman at centre of complaint against Laois TD was "traumatised and distressed" says Sinn Fein Leader

Sinn Fein Leader Mary Lou McDonald said a woman who made a complaint against Laois TD Brian Stanley was “traumatised and distressed”. 

Speaking on Child Protection in the Dail, Dep McDonald said “the resignations from Sinn Fein of Deputies Patricia Ryan and Brian Stanley are in no way related to matters of child protection” and to avoid any conflation or confusion, she needed to address the resignations directly. 

Dep McDonald said the details of both the initial complaint, which Dep Stanley denies, and the counter allegation are very serious.

“The circumstances surrounding Deputy Brian Stanley’s resignation are very, very serious. The party was first contacted on July 26 by the complainant. The disciplinary committee wrote to the complainant on August 1 and on the second of August this year the party received a formal complaint against Deputy Stanley. I was informed of this complaint a day later on August the third. The disciplinary committee wrote to Deputy Stanley on that same day to provide him with a copy of that complaint,” she said. 

She said Dep Stanley had contacted her towards the end of July and indicated his anxiety that there may be a complaint against him. “He didn’t elaborate on the nature of the complaint that he was expecting to be made. I assured Deputy Stanley that any complaint would be handled fairly by the parties procedures,” she said. 

Dep McDonald said the formal complaint was processed through the procedures which were overseen and supervised by a practising barrister. She said the procedure is confidential and protects the rights of both the complainant and the respondent. 

“At all stages Deputy Stanley engaged legal representation and had a solicitor and barrister present at the inquiry,” said Dep McDonald. 

“I was unaware of details of the complaint until last Saturday night, October 12, following Deputy Stanley’s resignation from  Sinn Fein, which had the effect of bringing the party’s process to an end,” said Dep McDonald.

“The complaint made against Dep Stanley is very serious. The complaint relates to an incident that took place in October 2023 and relates to Deputy Stanley’s personal behaviour leaving the complainant in her words, traumatised and distressed.” 

“In the course of the inquiry into the complaint against Deputy Stanley he raised a counter allegation against the complainant, and a very serious one. The allegation caused deep concern and Deputy Stanley was advised he should go to the gardaí. He chose not to.” 

Deputy Stanley’s allegation also dates back to the incident of October 2023 and from the time of that incident until the complaint was made, almost a full year, Deputy Stanley has not brought his allegation to the attention of the gardaí,” said Dep McDonald.  

She said “when our preliminary inquiry was completed and the report furnished to all parties, the head of our disciplinary committee sought legal advice. This was provided to our party chairman and resulted in a referral to An Garda Siochana.  Sinn Fein has referred all matters, the complaint and the counter allegation, to An Garda Siochana on Sunday, October 13 to Kevin Street Garda Station in Dublin. We have done so given the very serious complaint and very serious counter allegation.”  

“Let me say this just to be absolutely clear, Deputy Stanley is responsible for his behaviour and he must account for it. For our part, Sinn Fein responded to a serious complaint and counter allegation, in a correct and a fair manner,”  said Dep McDonald.