Sinn Féin Dublin councillor resigns from party over ‘mistreatment’ of members

Dublin Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Graham has resigned from the party due to what he alleged was a the "mistreatment" of members.

In a statement, Cllr Graham said he “could not remain a member of an organisation that allows and in part facilitates the mistreatment of individuals with such venom and deviance.”

Cllr Graham is a member of South Dublin County Council and said he resigned from Sinn Féin as it negatively impacted this role.

“The amount of control and malevolence exerted towards me both reduced and limited my capacity to fulfil my role as an elected representative . . . I was no longer able to effectively represent the people to my full ability and the standard they deserve,” he said.

In a newspaper interview last week, Sinn Féin TD Eoin Ó Broin said Cllr Graham made “insufficient output” to the work of the party.

Last year, Sinn Féin merged two of its Clondalkin branches which Cllr Graham said was done against the wishes of the majority of members from his branch.

He said that at a heated meeting held in a private room in a local sports club, several members were informed by Mr Ó Broin that their membership was being moved to another area.

After the meeting, Cllr Graham said Sinn Féin pursued a complaint of threatening behaviour, bullying and potential criminal damage against him and others.

Cllr Graham said that if the allegations were true, they would have been a matter for the Garda.

Sinn Féin took no further action but did “suspend a member without fair procedure and in breach of their own rules”, according to Cllr Graham.

In response, a Sinn Féin spokesman said Cllr Graham has been “estranged from the party for quite some time” and “recent local engagement with him by the party was an attempt to ascertain his intentions going forward and whether he wished to stand in future local elections in 2019.”

Cllr Graham said he will remain in his role as an elected member of South Dublin County Council.