Hate mail campaign won't deter Sinn Féin election candidate Cllr McCarthy

By Kieran O’Mahony

SINN Féin Cllr Rachel McCarthy has said she isn’t taking an anonymous hate mail campaign seriously and that she is more than determined to win a seat for Sinn Féin in Cork South West. 

In recent months, anonymous letters have been sent to various media outlets in West Cork, which were highly critical of Cllr McCarthy, alleging that she did not have the full support of Sinn Féin in West Cork.

But speaking to The Southern Star this week, Bandon-based Cllr McCarthy said that she and her party cannot take unsigned letters seriously.

‘Sending these anonymous letters out to the media is cowardly and whoever is behind them is out to damage our campaign. We’re out canvassing at the moment and I’m as busy as ever and I’m fully committed to the election,’ said Cllr McCarthy.

‘It would be great if the people who wrote these letters would sign their names to them and then we could do something and address their concerns if we knew who they were, and if they are indeed party members,’ she added.

Cllr McCarthy said she has the full support of the party and winning a seat for Sinn Féin in Cork South West is her aim.

Her election agent, Cllr Paul Hayes, said the letters were ‘a vindictive and deplorable attempt to unsettle Cllr McCarthy and the Sinn Féin organisation in West Cork’.

He said Cllr McCarthy was selected unopposed as the party’s general election candidate for Cork South West and she is already an elected councilor and an ‘outstanding public representative’.

 ‘But over the last number of months there has been a concerted effort from certain quarters to undermine Rachel’s campaign through the sending of anonymous letters, emails and texts to the media,’ said Cllr Hayes.

‘It should be obvious to everybody that there would be no reason why Cllr McCarthy would not enjoy the full support and confidence of Sinn Féin and that support and confidence is unquestionable.;

Cllr Hayes also added that Cllr McCarthy has been getting very favourable reactions on the door and in communities throughout the constituency.

‘We will be working hard to deliver our message of a fairer society to the people of this constituency and our unwavering aim is to elect Cllr Rachel McCarthy as a Sinn Féin TD,’ he said.