*Violet-Anne Wynne.
A CLARE TD used the most unparliamentary language when giving the two fingers to an opportunity to appear on a political podcast.
Violet-Anne Wynne TD (IND) was approached to appear as an analyst on an episode of The Clare Echo’s political podcast, The Electoral Chair to preview the winners and losers in the local elections in Clare and to discuss who would become the five MEPS in Ireland South.
However in a response, forty six hours after initial correspondence was sent to Deputy Wynne, the Offaly native replied to this writer, “With you running them? Not a hope. You have consistently targeted me. You can fuck right off”.
Deputy Wynne did not respond when asked to give examples to back up such a claim.
Former Junior Minister, Pat Breen (FG) who was once labelled “Prat Breen” by Wynne prior to her election to Dáil Éireann in February 2020 was among the guests on the latest episode of The Electoral Chair along with Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) and former Kilrush Town councillor, Deirdre Culligan (IND).
Elected as a Sinn Féin TD in 2020, Violet-Anne claimed more than fifteen percent of the first preference vote across the county but left the party in February 2022. She joined the party in 2012, one year after moving to Co Clare. She said she was the victim of “gaslighting measures” and “a campaign of psychological warfare” during her two years as a Sinn Féin TD.
When it came to announcing her exit from Sinn Féin, Deputy Wynne opted to use national titles rather than local media, a move which was criticised at the time by former Morning Focus producer, Ben Sweeney.
In a previous interview with The Clare Echo, Violet-Anne confirmed that she was no longer on speaking terms with her former Clare colleagues in Sinn Féin. “There wouldn’t be any conversations, once I made the decision to leave the party, you know that in effect, which I knew would happen, I mean, that makes sense. Like communication would just go down to a zero or minimum”.
