Shannon councillor parts ways with Sinn Féin

CATHY McCafferty, until recently Sinn Féín’s only elected representative in Clare, this week spoke out about her departure from the party.

At Tuesday night’s meeting of Shannon Town Council, she said she would not be resigning her seat and would be remaining on as an independent representative.
“With the permission of the Mayor, I would like to make a brief statement as I believe this is the appropriate forum in which to make it, as my first obligation is to the people of Shannon who elected me. I am no longer a member of a political party and now wish to be known as an independent member of Shannon Town Council.”
She was critical of internal processes in Sinn Féín. “Without going into too much detail, I would just like to say that the entire Sinn Féin organisation in County Clare was suspended in May 2010 for the purpose of carrying out an internal review. This was supposed to take three weeks. In fact, the suspension had not been lifted by Christmas 2011, more than 18 months later.
“This, to my mind, was an entirely unsatisfactory situation. As a result of all of this, I am no longer a Sinn Féin member.”
She said she had received a personal vote as well as a party vote and would be continuing with her work as a councillor.
“I was elected as a member of this town council in 2009, not alone on the basis of the party I stood for, but because of my work in the community. I intend to fulfill the mandate I got from the public by continuing to work for a better Shannon and a fairer society as an Independent councillor.
“Finally, I would like to acknowledge the support I have received from members of Shannon Town Council and from many people in the community. Their warmth and generosity has strengthened my conviction to carry on the work I was elected to do.”
Councillor McCafferty is a native of Derry and had been involved with Sinn Féin for decades. She almost took a seat on the town council in 2004 while she was successful in 2009, taking the seventh seat.
In a statement to The Clare Champion last month, Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris wouldn’t say whether Councillor McCafferty was expelled from the party but said there had been difficulties.
“There are times when things don’t work out between members and the party and some people are not compatible with the party position. So we’re moving on from that, it’s over and done with.
“We’re concentrating on other issues now, on issues that affect people. Every party has occasional internal problems but we have dealt with it, she is no longer a member of the party, to my knowledge.”