Fianna Fáil Minister of State Niall Collins has said that Sinn Féin has to address the wider issue of how the party approaches social media.
Speaking today, Mr Collins described tweets by the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Brian Stanley as “incredibly stupid and offensive” and he said it was puzzling that Mr Stanley was now claiming to be the victim of a targeted campaign. This was “a step too far,” he said.
Mr Collins said that during the Mother and Baby Homes debate he had been “hugely abused” on social media by “Sinn Féin types.” When questioned about this he said the abusive tweets had been from Sinn Féin supporters, not necessarily members.
It was not acceptable that some people said one thing in person or in public, but something else on their social media account, he added.
Leadership needed to be shown, it was an ongoing challenge. The issue had to be addressed at all levels, he urged.
On the same programme Sinn Féin’s health spokesperson Louise Reilly said that social media was not for everybody, “sometimes tweets can be misinterpreted.” Ms Reilly she had suffered her own share of abuse.
“If any offence was caused, of course Brian needs to engage and he needs to have those discussions with people.”
As a party colleague she knew Mr Stanely to be an ally to the LGBT community and a “very, very staunch campaigner, not just for LGBT rights but also for human rights".
Waterford TD David Cullinane defended him over this three-year-old tweet: " I think Brian Stanleys track record and Sinn Feins track record on LGBTI rights is there for everyone to see. Brian Stanley is a very decent politician".
It was important to understand the tweet in context, she said. “At the time in 2017, not just here in Ireland, but the whole world was talking about the fact that we had elected an openly gay head of Government.
“It is something for which we should rightly be proud, and Brian Stanley's remarks are in that context.”
However Ms O'Reilly said that the tweet had been left open to misinterpretation. Twitter was not the platform for everybody, “not everybody is suited to engagement on Twitter.”
Mr Stanley was not on the platform any more “as I’ve said it is not for everybody".
Deputy Stanley has since deleted his social media accounts.
