Ex-FF TD quits party over critical tweets

FORMER FIANNA Fáil TD Chris Andrews has resigned from the party after being unmasked as an anonymous tweeter who posted highly critical comments about his leader Micheál Martin and other party figures.

The former Dublin South East TD, who lost his seat at the last election, had been appointed by Mr Martin as a local area representative.

Party sources said yesterday they became aware some weeks ago of Mr Andrews’s involvement with a twitter account on which he made derogatory comments about individuals in Fianna Fáil.

“One individual who felt he had been defamed brought the matter to the party’s attention and Mr Andrews was asked for his response,” said the Fianna Fáil source.

The response from Mr Andrews came yesterday in the form of an interview with the Sunday Independent in which he announced his resignation from Fianna Fáil.

Party sources said their concerns about Mr Andrews’s anonymous twitter account did not relate to what he was saying about party leader Micheál Martin, but to the comments he had made about his fellow constituency representative and Dublin city councillor, Jim O’Callaghan.

Mr Andrews, posing as twitter user @brianformerff, had posted more than 300 tweets, many of which were regarded as derogatory by members of the party.

In his interview yesterday, Mr Andrews cited disenchantment with Mr Martin and the party’s lack of direction as the basis for his decision to quit the party.

His grandfather Todd Andrews was one of the founders of Fianna Fáil in 1926. His father Niall was a TD for Dublin South from 1977 until 1987 and an MEP for Dublin from 1984 until 2004.

His uncle David Andrews was a TD for Dún Laoghaire from 1965 until 2002 and served as minister for foreign affairs and minister for defence.

Fianna Fáil sources yesterday disputed Mr Andrews’s claim that he had resigned because of disenchantment with the party leader and pointed to the fact that he was a local area representative even though he had made public criticisms of the leadership.

“There is no substance to the claim that Chris was prevented from speaking his mind within the party. The anonymous tweets were primarily aimed at a constituency colleague and not the leader and that is what it was all about. The whole thing is bizarre,” said the party source.

Mr Andrews could not be contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.

The tweets Mr Andrews admits sending were generally scathing of his party. They included: “Labour have sold out and FF have proven to be incompetent and a large number of them dishonest at the top of the party.”