A former member of Fianna Fail's national executive has defected to Sinn Fein. Mr Paul Whelan, who is from Co Roscommon, said policy differences with the party, and particularly its "abandonment" of the west of Ireland, had led to his resignation.
Mr Whelan (27) was the chairman of the Ballaghaderreen cumann and was both PRO and youth officer for the Roscommon Comhairle Dail Ceantair. He said Sinn Fein was committed "to a fair and just united Ireland where the ordinary person counts".