There was surprise in republican circles in Limerick yesterday when it became known that Ms Jenny Shapland (34), the Sinn Fein candidate at the recent byelection who received 909 first-preference votes, the highest for the party in more than 40 years, had resigned from Sinn Fein.
Born in Oxford of Irish parents, she settled in Moyross, Limerick, nine years ago with her Welshborn husband, Richard, and two children. Two years later they joined Sinn Fein, and Ms Shapland served as honorary secretary of the Limerick branch, while her husband was PRO.
Ms Shapland told The Irish Times she had resigned for personal reasons. She denied that it was connected with the terms of the Northern Ireland Agreement, adding: "I resigned on April 6th which was 11 days before the terms were made known."
When asked if it was as a result of a split in the branch, she said: "Internal differences occur in every political party."
Ms Shapland said she had no intention of joining any other branch of the republican movement. During the week she was criticised locally after she publicly supported the reported remarks attributed to Mr Martin Ferris about the release of prisoners, including those accused of the murder of Det Garda Jerry McCabe at Adare two years ago.
Mr Tom Clancy, a long-serving republican who was the Sinn Fein party candidate at the 1992 general election, said: "There is no question of a split in the republican movement in Limerick." He said that like the vice-president of the party he, too, was surprised at the resignation of Ms Shapland.