*Sinn Féin President at O’Neills Bar in Newmarket-on-Fergus during a visit to Clare. Photograph: Joe Buckley
SINN FÉIN are going to pursue former Clare TD, Violet-Anne Wynne (IND) to repay a loan issued to her for rent arrears, the party’s President has confirmed to The Clare Echo.
Following Wynne’s election to the Dáil as a Sinn Féin TD in February 2020, Sinn Féin in May 2020 gave her a commercial loan of €12,126 after it emerged she had rent debts with Rural Resettlement Ireland of the same value built up over a four year period.
An agreement had been reached that Deputy Wynne would make monthly repayments of €1,000 to Sinn Féin.
During The Electoral Chair election debate by The Clare Echo, Wynne said, “The arrangement with Sinn Féin ceased once I left the party”. She added, “I paid what I could and then I was out of the party, every arrangement and communication ceased from that moment onwards”.
Wynne said Sinn Féin received €27,000 of her Dáil salary per year following her exit from the party in February 2022, working out at €81,000 from her time in Leinster House as an Independent. She indicated that this would be sufficient in clearing her loan to the party.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Mary Lou McDonald (SF) said the loan given to Wynne for rent arrears at a property in Tullycrine “has to be paid back”. She stated, “there are legal reasons for that, I know the party is still awaiting payment, of that loan, it was made in goodwill and in good faith because I understand perfectly how people with families can all too easily, sadly get into financial debt and where they need, you know, a hand up and a and a bit of assistance, I have no issue with that at all, but it was a loan, and we do expect it to be, repaid. The party has no option but to pursue that money being repaid because otherwise, it becomes an illegal donation, and we can’t have that. It was made in good faith, and I fully expect that the money will be paid back”.
When asked if the matter could be brought before the courts to secure a repayment, Deputy McDonald said, “I haven’t even countenanced that, I think we just need to stay engaged, and Violet-Anne needs to be clear that the money does have to be paid back, that is the legal position. I think it’s also the fair position that, you know, when somebody assists you, that you’re reasonable in in terms of, respecting it”.
No timeline has been set by Sinn Féin on when they Violet-Anne will have to repay this loan. “Obviously this can’t go on forever. I mean, it can’t drag out indefinitely”.
Both Violet-Anne and Mary-Lou have previously clashed following the release of a biography by Shane Ross about McDonald. In ‘Republican Riddle, Wynne said the Mary-Lou’s feminism is a façade. Responding to these remarks for the first time, Mary Lou commented, “I’m not even going to dignify that with a reaction. I think anybody who knows me or who is fair and honest about me will recognise that I have been, I’ve been a feminist all my all my life, I believe in women, I believe in our contribution to public life but don’t mind my words, the evidence is in the fact that Sinn Fein has hit now almost the 40% threshold, not in candidates that we ran, but in candidates that we got elected as Teachta Dála, to this Dáil, we have 39 TDs is the biggest team we’ve ever had, and 15 of those are women. Now I want us to get to 50% and I’m we’re going to work really, really hard to make that happen but like the evidence of my work is in my track record and, so that’s all I have to say on that”.
Wynne also previously said a snub from Mary-Lou was the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ in prompting her exit from Sinn Féin. “I don’t accept that. I don’t accept that for a second,” McDonald replied.
On her reasoning for not contributing to the biography on her by Ross, the Dublin Central TD said, “I said at the time, I mean. My story is my story to tell, with all due respect to everybody else, lots is written about me, legitimately, I’m a public figure, but I reserve the right to tell my story at a time that I think is appropriate. I said at the time that the book was, at a minimum, premature and then when it was, published, it was prurient, it was intrusive, it was largely inaccurate, but that’s on Shane, that’s his that’s his, lookout so it was it was kind of as simple as that, you know. it’d be the equivalent of me waking up next summer and saying, I think I’d write a biography on, Leo Varadkar, and then taking a huff if Leo said, ‘no, Mary Lou, actually, I’m not going to do that’. That to me would be the equivalent”.
