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A Sinn Féin member resigned from the party saying she was told not to discuss internal affairs in public and after a member of the party called her at home to ask her to delete recent critical tweets.
Co Meath’s Christine O’Mahony (22) said she left the party in light of the controversy surrounding Sinn Féin’s TD Brian Stanley, who said he had nothing to apologize for over a 2017 tweet about Leo Varadkar .
In that message, the now head of the Public Accounts Committee wrote: “yippee 4 d tory. it’s Leo. You can do whatever you want in bed, but you don’t look like a raise the next morning. “
Ms. O’Mahony criticized this online and said she was met with significant pushback from the party.
He received messages from other Ógra Sinn Féin members stating that a cornerstone of the party’s functioning was to have discussions that were kept internal and that adhered to the principles of “democratic centralism”.
They told him that “chasing” the party would only serve Sinn Féin detractors. They also told him that the senior and junior members of the party had expressed concern over the social media posts in recent days. They told him that “sensitive matters” should be kept internal and online messages, which contradicted this, should be removed.
The UCD master’s student said a party member, whom she knows, later called her family home.
“He came to my house and I was upstairs in the middle of a conference,” he said. Her parents opened the door and she said that he told her parents “that he received a phone call from the central office about my tweet and I cannot criticize the party, especially as a member and as a PRO [public relations officer]I can’t fault the online party. He wanted me to delete my tweets immediately and to contact him. “
He said he made the decision to resign after this and said he believes the members are being “silenced.”
“Seeing how the members are reacting to basic criticism, minor criticism … shows that they are not going to listen to me.”
O’Mahony said that some members are encouraged to take a break from social media.
But this is my platform. I can write about what I want. You cannot censor me just because I am criticizing the party. “
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said: “Sinn Féin has guidelines for the use of social media that members are asked to adhere to, which includes asking members not to post offensive or harassing material.
“The internal affairs of the party, by definition, should be discussed within the party. This does not prevent any member from speaking on any topic. “
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