Sinn Fein suspend Senator for 3 months
By Maurice Garvey
THE son of a prison officer killed by the IRA stands by his assertation, that Sinn Féin should expel Senator Máire Devine from the party for her “disgusting tweet.”
Senator Devine, a former Tallaght Councillor, was suspended for three months, following what the party described as “unacceptable twitter activity.”
Senator Maire Devine
The incident on Sunday involved an offensive tweet in relation to prison officer Brian Stack, who was shot by the IRA in 1983, and died from his injuries 18 months later.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said Senator Devine made a “catastrophic error of judgement” by retweeting a post which called Brian Stack, a ‘sadist’.
Prior to her apology, Senator Devine sent follow-up tweets that appeared to accuse Brian Stack’s son Austin of being overly-sensitive about the issue.
McDonald said: “I have zero tolerance for people or actions that bring grief to the victims or to their families and I want to apologise sincerely to the family of the late Brian Stack.
“Senator Devine understands fully that she made a catastrophic error of judgement in retweeting something that came from a made-up account.”
McDonald said Devine “apologises unequivocally” and her “greater disappointment” as party leader, was that, rather than immediately delete the tweet and apologise, Devine initially tried to defend her actions.
Austin Stack said he found it “incredible that a political representative is revictimising the son of an IRA victim. I had to watch my father die after he was shot by Provos.”
Mr Stack has been engaged in a long-running campaign to find out what happened to his father.
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