A Galway city councillor has resigned from the Social Democrats.
Eibhlín Seoighthe, who represents the city’s central ward, was the party’s candidate in Galway West in last year’s general election. She polled 2,172 first preference votes before being eliminated on the 10th count.
A spokeswoman for the party confirmed Ms Seoighthe’s resignation.
Ms Seoighthe did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
It is understood that she informed party colleagues of the decision, which she told them had been made with a “heavy heart”, on Thursday morning. Ms Seoighthe did not expand on her reasons for leaving the party.
A party source acknowledged that the news came in the days after the Social Democrats ended the suspension of Dublin Bay South TD Eoin Hayes from the parliamentary party, but argued that Ms Seoighthe had not made an explicit link with this move so far.
Mr Hayes had been suspended for almost eight months after he gave misleading information about when he sold shares in a former employer, Palantir, which has lucrative contracts with the Israel Defense Forces.
Sources in the Social Democrats earlier this week outlined the belief that following Mr Hayes’ readmission to the parliamentary party, there would be limited departures of staff, representatives or the membership.
One member, Martha Ní Riada, who also worked for acting leader Cian O’Callaghan, tweeted that she was resigning from the party following the decision.