Sinn Féin Ousts Member Over Partner’s Far-Right Arrest

Officers from a special detective unit investigating cross-border terrorism arrested the man on Wednesday.

In a statement on Thursday, Sinn Féin confirmed that "the partner of a female member of the party had been arrested as part of the investigation into last week's arrest of two alleged far-right extremists".

He said he was informed last Friday that Gardaí had also raided his home as part of the investigation.

Two other men were remanded in custody after appearing in court last week on charges of possessing and controlling explosives.

The court was told that a "violent" right-wing extremist group had threatened on video to attack a mosque in Galway, IPAS centres, and hotels housing migrants around Ireland.

Did not inform the party

Sinn Féin's national spokesperson, South Antrim assembly member Declan Kearney, said the party would not allow itself to be "exposed to any far-right elements".

He said the woman had been expelled from the party on Saturday night as "she failed to notify the party that her home was raided or inform the party about the associated seriousness of this situation".

"The far-right have targeted our party for several years now with death threats, pickets on members' homes and offices and more recently violent actions," Kearney said.

"We have worked carefully with the gardaí, who have been active and vigilant in the face of these threats.

"As this is a live and serious Garda investigation we cannot say anymore at this time," he added.

Sinn Féin TD (Irish MP) Matt Carthy said the woman's partner was not a member of Sinn Féin.

He also said the party member had been a member of Sinn Féin for less than a year and that the party had received information about the raid on the home last Friday evening through another party member.

Sinn Féin subsequently tried to confirm this information "from last Friday night until Saturday."

Speaking outside Leinster House in Dublin, he said: ""The party take these matters incredibly seriously. As soon as we became aware of what had happened, we convened a meeting of the party leadership, and the decision was made to immediately expel this party member for not informing the party about the fact that her house had been raided.

"We don't tolerate any party member being associated with these activities," McCarthy said.

The former party member has not been arrested.