A former local Fianna Fáil TD has confirmed he will contest the next election as an Independent candidate.
Sligo-Leitrim deputy Marc MacSharry confirmed today that he has fully split from the government party.
Deputy MacSharry resigned from the parliamentary party last year and was heavily critical of leader Micheál Martin.
He had been expected to rejoin during the year but then left over his party leader's handling of a bullying complaint made against him by a Fianna Fail councillor.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show this morning, the Sligo-Leitrim TD says he will now be driven solely by the needs of his constituents and not the party.
"I would argue Fianna Fáil doesn't exist anymore, it's the Micheál Martin party. I'm certainly not a member of it, they don't hold my details on their database anymore, and this week I had my new headed paper printed which says Marc Macsharry: Independent TD. I will be voting according to the wishes, exclusively, of the constituents and my own wishes, and will not be following anything that Fianna Fail under Micheál Martin will direct".
