Sinn Féin will decide over the weekend on whether to appeal a finding that it, and a former party member, should pay €17,500 for an assault on another former member and intimidation of his wife in Co Wexford during the last election campaign.
"We would fundamentally disagree with any finding that the party was responsible in any way for intimidation against anyone," a spokeswoman for the party told The Irish Times yesterday. She added that the individual sued in the case, Mr Gerry Hanratty, had not been a member of the party for about six months.
The judgment against the party and Mr Hanratty was made in Wexford Circuit Court last Friday by Judge Michael O'Shea. Mr Hanratty and Sinn Féin had been sued by Mr Seán Ó Laoghaire and his wife Poilín for damages arising from an assault on Mr Ó Laoghaire and for trauma to his wife, who witnessed the assault, and who was later visited at home by men claiming to be members of the Republican movement.
Mr Ó Laoghaire told the court that he and his wife had joined the party in 2000, prior to the last general election. Mr Liam McGarry was chairman of the comhairle ceanntair at the time.
He said that while canvassing for the election he encountered people on the doorsteps saying they would not vote for a specific candidate, alleging involvement in drugs. He raised these people's concerns within the party.
He said he was summoned to a meeting in a Gorey hotel, where he was expelled from the party. He later received a telephone call from Mr Hanratty, who asked to meet him at the car-park of a bar outside Wexford on May 5th, 2001. He went to the car-park, where Mr Hanratty was accompanied by two others. Mr McGarry was with Mr Ó Laoghaire, along with Ms ní Laoghaire.
He said that at the car-park he met a hostile reception from Mr Hanratty, who head-butted him, punched him in the mouth and dragged him along the ground. Ms ní Laoghaire told the court of seeing the assault on her husband. She also said that two individuals had called to her home the next morning requesting to speak to her husband. On November 5th the same year three men called to her house at 11 p.m. seeking to speak to him, but she closed the door and they did not return.
Mr McGarry said he was chairman of the Wexford comhairle ceanntair at the time of the incident, but was later "stood down" from this position and is no longer a member. He said he was in the car-park when Mr Hanratty carried out the assault on Mr Ó Laoghaire.
Mr Hanratty said he was originally from Belfast, and had lived in East Wall, Dublin, before moving to Wexford. He said he was a member of Sinn Féin, and also that he had convictions for possession of firearms.
He said he had met Mr Ó Laoghaire in the car-park of the Mountain Bar to discuss the findings of an investigation into the selection of the candidate for the general election. When they met the exchanges became angry and he was assaulted by Mr Ó Laoghaire, with punches being thrown, but he did not head-butt him. He said he did not see Mr McGarry in the car-park.
Judge O'Shea said he was satisfied Mr Hanratty was in the car- park in his political capacity as a member of Sinn Féin, he had no doubt that the reason for the meeting was to discuss the election candidate, and that Mr Ó Laoghaire was brought to a remote and isolated area for political business.
He said that he had no doubt that the person who struck first was Mr Hanratty, and that the assault was unprovoked and unnecessary. He was also satisfied that it was a frightening experience for Ms ní Laoghaire, as were the visits to her home. He awarded her €8,000 general damages for post-traumatic stress and her husband €9,500 general damages for the assault, with costs against Mr Hanratty and Sinn Féin both jointly and severally.