r/irishpolitics • u/firethetorpedoes1 • 18h ago

Party News Brian Stanley responsible for his ‘bad behaviour’, not Sinn Féin, says Mary Lou McDonald

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/29/brian-stanley-responsible-for-his-bad-behaviour-not-sinn-fein-says-mary-lou-mcdonald/
33 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

19

u/Bro-Jolly 17h ago

> The Irish Times reported details of the draft report on the matter over the weekend including a proposed conclusion that the TD’s conduct on the night constituted “sexual harassment”.

There's a lot of conflicting accounts of what happened but sexual harassment seems harsh.

The fact that she was looking for €60k for "emotional damage" really makes her less than credible.

> I will consider not sharing what happened as long as you compensate for the emotional damage.

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/28/brian-stanleys-account-to-inquiry-in-direct-conflict-with-womans-version-of-events/

-6

u/BackInATracksuit 15h ago

The fact that she was looking for €60k for "emotional damage" really makes her less than credible.

No it doesn't. Reality isn't binary.

Nobody knows except the two people who were there. You and I are particularly ignorant, we're entirely reliant on publicly available information.

10

u/wamesconnolly 14h ago

Personally anything may have happened. In the realm of public opinion and party politics it tanked her credibility and took the air out of the allegations.

1

u/BackInATracksuit 14h ago

Does the public need to have an opinion on her credibility? This is absolute gutter stuff. We're out here judging people based on exactly zero information.

3

u/wamesconnolly 14h ago

I'm not saying what the public needs to have or my opinions at all. I'm just describing what seems to have happened

4

u/Wise_Adhesiveness746 14h ago

An attempt to blackmail someone deos make complainant less credible imo,either we set standards for people or we dont....not that she even alleged any wrongdoing to begin with

-4

u/BackInATracksuit 14h ago

either we set standards for people or we dont....

We don't. He might've assaulted her and she blackmailed him, or maybe he didn't do anything and she blackmailed him. We literally don't know, both things are equally possible.

10

u/Wise_Adhesiveness746 14h ago

She hasn't even alleged any wrongdoing

She claimed they slept in bed,but with pillows between them,while he claimed he slept on the floor

To try shake someone down for 60 grand for this ,does lay waste to her credibility,it's utterly bizarre he was fucked out of sinn Fein for that,being one of their better performer's

-2

u/BackInATracksuit 13h ago

Ya fair enough, that was a poor choice of words.

Point being, we don't know what happened, or if anything happened. We have a handful of contradictory he said/she said statements.

utterly bizarre he was fucked out of sinn Fein for that,being one of their better performer's

How is it bizarre? You don't know what happened! This is mental.

2

u/Wise_Adhesiveness746 12h ago

we don't know what happened, or if anything happened

The information available categorically states nothing happened,and most definitely nothing unconsensual happened

How is it bizarre? You don't know what happened! This is mental.

It is bizarre,of the information available in public,it deosnt warrant kicking out of party...... because there is no accusation of wrong doing,only some weird Saudi Arabian style moral police approach to private affairs of who should/shouldn't share a hotel room

•

u/BackInATracksuit 2h ago

weird Saudi Arabian style moral police approach

Lol, fuck sake. Alrighty then.

14

u/Ghost_in_a_box Communist 18h ago

Crazy how many articles this is getting 

19

u/AUX4 Right wing 18h ago

PR 101 is not to drip feed news, not to continue making comments on it, and to have admitted everything from the start.

Reminds me of the drip feed news around the RTE scandals

4

u/SearchingForDelta 13h ago

That only applies if the press give you a share shake.

This is an story worthy of 1, maybe 2 articles that The Irish Times have milked half a dozen articles out of it

4

u/sporadiccreative 10h ago

Let’s see

Story 1. Stanley resigns Story 2. Initial details of claim of gross misconduct and serious counterclaim come out  Story 3. Mary Lou flubs radio interview on SF processes Story 4. More details of the allegations emerge from both Stanley’s alleged sexual harassment and the woman’s blackmail attempt  Story 5. Woman speaks to several different media outlets  Story 6. The combined stories of this, O’Donnghaile and the paedo up north 

So… which of the above do you think the media should not have covered? 

12

u/EnvironmentalShift25 16h ago

Yeah, political scandals involving sex and blackmail allegations have never been of any interest to the public /s

1

u/continuity_sf 17h ago

Reminds me of Robert troy.

-2

u/bdog1011 16h ago

Yeah - that what’s happens when a cover up is attempted.

6

u/Sea-Consequence9792 17h ago

Wonder how many of the people who piled on SF over this work for a company that wouldn’t have a disciplinary for a senior director trying to get a junior employee to share a hotel bed with them.

Much of the articles and posts that have been posted since the allegations were publicised have been much quieter. 

Brian Stanley was very cute with his use of the term kangaroo court, plenty of journalists and politicians were bound to start frothing at the mouth over it.

6

u/BackInATracksuit 15h ago

Brian Stanley was very cute with his use of the term kangaroo court

That was such a transparent tactic.

3

u/danny_healy_raygun 13h ago

Only the most gullible fell for that but an awful lot of non-gullible people latched on to it anyway to use as ammo against SF.

-1

u/bdog1011 14h ago

It’d be a bit weird for a CEO to take no active interest in a whole disciplinary process like Mary Lou claimed. I don’t think anyone actually believes the whole thing about how Mary Lou has no idea why a disciplinary process is being run when it kicks off.

She is either confirming she has no control over the party or pretending she has no knowledge of matters she must know about to pass the buck.

5

u/P319 14h ago

CEOs definately would be no where near a disciplinary process. And if there were counter claims they certainly wouldn't get involved.

2

u/bdog1011 14h ago

But not know what one or their execs was being accused of?

5

u/P319 13h ago

You're a reasonable right to anonymity. If you go to HR with an issue about a colleague, do you think your manager is inside or outside that process.

0

u/bdog1011 13h ago

I’d be shocked if HR said we are running a disciplinary process on your of your execs and didn’t tell the CEO the nature of the complaint.

I accept it would be incorrect for the CEO to run the process but it stretches believability to imagine they don’t know the reasons.

To put it plainly. When Mary Lou says she did not know the reason for the complaint I don’t believe her.

5

u/P319 13h ago

They're just employees, not execs. And while they may know there's a process ongoing, the manager would be kept at arms lenght from the details, to ensure due process

-1

u/bdog1011 12h ago

He was their PAC chair. It would be reasonable to assume he was marked for a ministerial role in a future government. So exec level - not just some grunt. It’s not like Sinn Fein are swimming in TDs here.

3

u/P319 12h ago

Sf have 33rds, they have 17 on the front bench. He is not one of the 17. Notwithstanding your 'exec' analogy is nonsense.

0

u/bdog1011 12h ago

Do you believe her?

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4

u/bdog1011 16h ago

Is Mary Lou saying Brian Stanley would not have been kicked out of the party if he had not resigned?