Elisha McCallion resigns from the Seanad and McDonald apologises.

The Sinn Fein President, Mary-Lou McDonald has accepted the resignations of party officials, the most senior being former Foyle MP and Senator, Elisha McCallion.

This is the statement below;

“Over the course of Monday and Tuesday of this week, the Sinn Féin leadership established that three party offices incorrectly received lodgements of £10,000 under the Small Business Grant scheme established by the Department of Economy in March 2020.

“The payments were not applied for and were automatically received as part of the round of grant payments in late March/early April from the Land and Property Service.

“Payments were paid into constituency accounts in West Tyrone and Lurgan, and into Elisha McCallion’s account in respect of her former Westminster office.

“In each case the grant money has been returned in full, with repayments made on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

“These monies should have been returned immediately as no political offices qualified for this grant. The fact that this did not happen is unacceptable.

“The party has established in each case where responsibility lay for the administration of the accounts in question and for the reimbursement of these monies.

“The Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle met last night and censured all those involved.

“Last night I accepted the resignation of Senator Elisha McCallion. She accepts full responsibility for the failure to return the grant immediately.

“The party also accepted the resignation of the party official in West Tyrone who had responsibility for the administration of the account and failed to promptly return the grant money despite being requested to do so by Maolíosa McHugh MLA.

“The Cathaoirleach (Chairperson) of the Upper Bann Comhairle Ceantair (Constituency Organisation) has also tendered his resignation in recognition of their failure to return the grant payment in a timely fashion.

“The Small Business Grant scheme was established to support struggling businesses in times of extraordinary hardship.

“The failure to immediately return grants erroneously paid into Sinn Féin accounts is a most serious situation.

“As party leader I wish to acknowledge and apologise for these failures.

The former Senator, Elisha McCallion has issued a statement saying;

Earlier this year a Small Business Grant was lodged into a joint account of which I am a named signature with my husband. I did not apply for nor solicit this money, nor did I receive any correspondence from the department in relation to it.

I fully accept that as a named signature on the account that I should have taken extra steps to verify this situation, before it was brought to my attention on Tuesday.

The money was repaid in full on Tuesday.

I apologise unreservedly for the poor judgement I showed in relation to this and therefore, last night I spoke to the party leader and tendered my resignation as a member of Seanad Éireann with immediate effect.

From the outside, the leadership will get credit for acting on this. As we go through the second wave of the pandemic, the recession is starting to be felt as the jobless numbers rise and all of us feel the economic pain. So on that score both Mary Lou and Michelle O’Neill will be seen in a positive light.

A week is a long time in politics and a year is an eternity. This time last year, along with John Finucane, Elisha McCallion was the face of the Sinn Fein campaign and was given a high profile. A poor local election result, the disastrous Westminster result and now the departure of Elisha as a Senator just brings to the fore the party’s problem in the city. Moreover, the stunning result in February next door in Donegal, does more to highlight the poor position of Sinn Fein in Derry. And it’s worth noting the result last December was about more than just Elisha McCallion.

At this stage, they have nobody who can mount a substantial challenge to Colum Eastwood for the Westminster seat and with 18 months to go until the next Assembly Election, they will want to show some progress and rebound. Karen Mullan is doing good work around education and is good at keeping a higher profile on a key issue. The return of Martina Anderson is the big unknown as she has been out of the constituency for a long time at an Assembly level.

Either way, the party faces an SDLP with the wind in their sails, a People Before Profit eager to make waves and Alliance looking to establish a beachhead in the constituency. The surge that Sinn Fein enjoyed in February took the sting out of a bad result in December, but the problems haven’t gone away and the clock is ticking toward 2022.

“Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Vice President Michelle O’Neill” by “Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Vice President Michelle O’Neill” is licensed under “Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald and Vice President Michelle O’Neill“