Paddy Holohan

In a 7 January 2020 episode of "Paddy Holohan's No Shame Podcast", Holohan criticised the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar over his party's intention to commemorate the Black and Tans. Holohan accused Varadkar of not understanding the society of Ireland and the history of Ireland, and of being detached from the classes of Ireland, due to his father and grandfather's Indian ethnicity. Holohan stated that when he was growing up, he was raised on stories by his own grandfather about the history of Ireland, and said that Varadkar would have instead been raised "on stories of the rebellion in India, in the idea of fighting the English there, and Gandhi and all these other stories." He also stated he would like the leader of the country to be a "family man," and to know "what it is like to have kids," in reference to Varadkar's homosexuality. On 16 January, as the 2020 Irish general election campaign was underway, Holohan was called upon by his party to apologize for his remarks.[26] He issued an apology later the same day. In response, Varadkar accepted the apology, stating "I understand that he has apologised in the last few hours and you know that’s good enough for me." Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald also stated that she was satisfied with the apology and there would be no further action needed.[27][28]

On 17 January, it emerged that Holohan had previously made comments on his podcast regarding the alleged use of sexual extortion by underage girls, whereby he claimed he had been told that teenage girls were deliberately targeting men, engaging in sexual relationships and recording evidence of same, and then threatening them with extortion of up to €10,000.[29][30] Mary Lou McDonald described the comments as “beyond offensive, I actually find them upsetting”.[29][30] She announced that “I have moved immediately to the party’s disciplinary procedures, and disciplinary action will be taken”.[29][30] Sinn Féin announced that afternoon that Holohan had been suspended from the party and was to face disciplinary procedures.[29][30]

On 26 June 2020 it was announced that Holohan's suspension from Sinn Féin had been recently lifted and he had been reinstated to the party.[31] The same day as his suspension was lifted, he was nominated for the position of Mayor of South Dublin by members of South Dublin County Council, but was not elected.[32] Sinn Féin were criticised for allowing the nomination to occur, and senior figures in the party such as Pearse Doherty and Eoin O'Broin called Holohan's nomination "regrettable" and "wrong".[33][34] On 6 July Sinn Féin suspended their entire South West Dublin organisation as a result of the Holohan nomination, a suspension that will remain until an internal review on the nomination is completed.[35]

In March 2021, Sinn Féin once again took disciplinary action against Holohan after Holohan refused a request to take down a Facebook post supporting a salon owner who reopened in breach of COVID-19 restrictions. Pearse Doherty explained the situation to the Irish Independent's Floating Voter podcast: "This fella made a comment, we told him that comment isn’t in keeping with the party’s view, we told him to withdraw it, he isn’t doing so, there’s a disciplinary procedure, the party will deal with that”.[36]

Later that month, it was revealed that Holohan had chosen not to renew his party membership and was now an independent councillor.[37]