Sinn Féin have distanced themselves from comments made by one of their councillors to this newspaper. 


Councillor Chris McCaffrey spoke to this newspaper earlier this month and confirmed he had written a letter regarding the denial of bail of Kinawley man, Bernard McGovern to the Republic’s Justice Minister, Helen McEntee.


Councillor McCaffrey raised the issue of the denial of bail of Bernard McGovern, who is currently on remand for the alleged assaults of two Mannok (formerly known as Quinn Industrial Holdings) directors, Kevin Lunney and Dara O’Reilly, at a service station in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan in February, 2019.


Councillor McCaffrey raised concerns about period of time McGovern has spent in prison in Castlere.  He told this newspaper: “I refer to the almost four month-long period that Mr. McGovern has spent on remand since June 4 this year.


“This is over 100 days, which is an extraordinary length of time, and completely contravenes normal judicial procedures involving cases of this nature.”


A spokesperson from Sinn Féin said: “Sinn Féin has consistently condemned attacks against the directors of Quinn Industrial Holdings and have raised these with the Gardaí and with the PSNI.


“Party representatives, north and south, have met with directors of the company to relay our solidarity with them and have appealed for those responsible for these senseless attacks to be brought to justice.


“Sinn Féin does not support the recent action of Councillor Chris McCaffrey to write to the Minister for Justice about the denial of bail to a person accused of participating in an alleged assault.”


Councillor McCaffrey declined to comment on the issue when asked to by this newspaper.