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Sinn Fein’s TD and Public Accounts Committee Chairman Brian Stanley is “guilty of colossal errors of judgment” by posting two controversial tweets, a party colleague said.
Sinn Fein TD Eoin O Broin said the tweets have caused “a lot of damage”, but rejected claims that Stanley is unfit to chair the committee.
He described Mr. Stanley as a “good politician and a good public representative.”
Stanley, who is taking this week off to spend time with his family at the request of his party leader Mary Lou McDonald, will make a statement to the Dail about the social media posts.
Stanley had faced increasing calls to appear before the Dail after a series of controversies.
On Wednesday, he publicly apologized for a tweet sent last weekend, which appeared to glorify the historic killings of British soldiers by the IRA.
But he insisted that he “does not have to apologize” for a 2017 tweet he sent that appeared to comment on the sexuality of Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar.
TD Laois-Offaly has now deleted his Twitter account.
Mr O Broin claimed on Sunday that his party colleague had been accused of “wrong” things.
“What he is guilty of are colossal errors of judgment related to both tweets,” he told RTE.
“He was callous and poor in judgment, he caused a lot of damage with both of them and the right thing for Brian to do is reflect on all that.
Two bad mistakes
“Since he has been accused of some pretty gruesome things, it has been a difficult week for him and I think offering to come to the Dail and make a full and detailed statement is the right thing to do.
“People make mistakes and, in Brian’s case, two particularly serious mistakes.
“I believe that when people make mistakes they must acknowledge them, they must apologize, they must explain.
“I think Brian has been accused of things that are completely false, he is a politician of great integrity. I think people should take Brian at his word. “
Stanley has rejected allegations of homophobia for the tweet he sent when Tanaiste was elected leader of Fine Gael.
Fine Gael Minister Simon Harris said: “What I find very difficult to accept is that if I had sent those tweets and were sitting here today MP O Broin and Sinn Fein would probably ask me to resign from the government, probably saying He was unfit for office, definitely demanding that he go to the Dail to answer questions about everything and anything.
“I ask Sinn Fein to hold itself to the same level and standard that it would hold me to.”
Responding to reports of online attacks by Sinn Fein supporters, Mr. O Broin urged those people to “stop what they are doing” as they are not helping or attending the party.
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