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Former Sinn Féin TDs say party did not let them choose staff
Two former Sinn Féin TDs have claimed the party did not allow its Dáil deputies to pick their own staff to work with them in Leinster House.
Peadar Tóibín and Carol Nolan, who both quit Sinn Féin over its stance on abortion five years ago, said party officials gave them no input into what staff they hired. It is a departure from the practice usually employed by most other political parties in the Dáil, which allow their TDs and senators to recruit their own staff.
It comes in the wake of similar claims by Clare TD Violet- Anne Wynne, who resigned from Sinn Féin last week.
Ms Wynne claimed Sinn Féin was “gaslighting” her through “psychological warfare” and alleged the party pressured her to hire certain staff.
She further claimed the party did not support her sufficiently while on maternity leave and that it used her “unplanned pregnancy” as a “further stick to beat me with”.
Mr Tóibín, a long-serving TD for Meath West who is now the leader of Aontú, told the Irish Independent: “In my time, staff were actually selected for me without my input at all in the early stages. For the vast majority of that time, staff were chosen independently of my input. That would have been seen as a competency of the party rather than a TD.”
Mr Tóibín was first elected to the Dáil in 2011.
Ms Nolan, who is an Independent TD for Laois Offaly, said she recognised Ms Wynne’s comments through her own experience in Sinn Féin after she was first elected to the Dáil in 2016. “I did feel we were forced to take on staff, I would totally agree with her there. That was the same as my experience,” she said.
“When staff were picked I didn’t sit in on the interview panel at all, which I imagine I should. If a staff member is suggested, surely you should sit in on the interview panel.”
Mr Tóibín and Ms Nolan both resigned in 2018 over the party’s decision to support the referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment.
In her resignation statement last Thursday, Ms Wynne said: “I was pressured into decisions that I couldn’t stand over, such as the staff the party wanted me to hire. I learned very fast that the party do not take kindly to autonomy and those who do not follow their plans.”
Speaking to the Sunday Independent last weekend, Ms Wynne said she had difficulties with the staff the party assigned to her and claimed they had in some instances “dictated” the number of parliamentary questions it would be appropriate to submit and which issues she should speak on in the Dáil.
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: “All Sinn Féin TDs are responsible for the recruitment, employment and management of their own staff.
“Some TDs request assistance from the party’s HR department on advertising positions and holding interviews. Others oversee this process themselves. This is entirely a matter for each individual TD.”
Ms Wynne yesterday revealed on Twitter she had received a gift bag from Ms McDonald. She posted a picture of the gift along with what appeared to be a message she had sent to Ms McDonald outlining how she was “heartbroken” that she had to resign. In the message, she questions why action had not been taken sooner prior to her resignation and that she had been taught a lesson to “never meet your hero”.
Of the other parties contacted about their recruitment practices, Fine Gael and the Social Democrats said their TDs and senators hired their own staff.
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