Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor expelled from party

A Limerick City Councillor has been expelled from the Anti-Austerity Alliance after he allegedly sent a threatening message to a local activist.

The Limerick branch of the party had asked Cllr John Loftus to resign his seat as a member of Limerick City and County Council Limerick City after it was claimed he sent a private Facebook message in which he threatened activist Greg Doran last Sunday.

Mr Doran subsequently posted the private message which read:

“I tried to be nice. The next time I see you I’lll [sic] cut your fuckin throat. Insult me & you are dead. See you Monday.”

On Tuesday, Cllr Loftus described the message as a “moment of madness” insisting he would “never hurt anybody in my life”.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Limerick branch of the AAA said Cllr Loftus’ behaviour had been a been “a catastrophic misjudgement” for a public representative which it further claimed “brings the AAA and the council into disrepute”.

“The AAA does not believe there is any context or justification for such behaviour. As Cllr. Loftus has refused to step down as a councillor we have now been forced to implement the decision and we no longer consider him a member of the AAA,” the statement continued.

Cllr Cian Prendeville of the AAA said Cllr Loftus attended a meeting of the Midwest AAA committee on Monday but did not attend Tuesday night’s activists meeting.

“Activists felt that anything less than resignation as a councillor would not really be credible given the strong opposition in the community to threats, intimidation and violence, and would leave a question mark as to whether Cllr Loftus or the AAA really treated this situation with the seriousness it deserves,” he said.

“The meeting also felt that the qualified apology which Cllr Loftus offered in the media yesterday demonstrated that he has indeed failed to register the seriousness of the situation. There is no context that justifies the threats he made.”

Cllr Loftus was not available for comment on Wednesday morning.