James Sheehan, the man arrested this afternoon in connection with a garda investigation in Kerry, has been released without charge. Sinn Féin's Director of Elections for North Kerry was arrested in connection with an investigation into a so-called vigilante attack in the county in December.
He has categorically denied involvement in any vigilante incident. Gardaí say their investigations into the abduction in Castleisland are continuing and, on completion, a file will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Sinn Féin Councillor, Martin Ferris, the party's election candidate in the constituency, has described the arrest as an outrageous interference in the political process.
The Gardaí are investigating the abduction and beating of a man near Castleisland on 7 December. In an interview with The Kerryman newspaper days later, the abduction was claimed by the self-styled Concerned Parents Against Drugs group in Kerry.
The man was bundled into the back of his own car, driven to an isolated area at Lyreacrompane outside the town and beaten. The group also claimed to have seized €15,000 worth of cannabis resin from the man, before burning out his car about two miles away.
Since then Gardaí in Killarney have been conducting an investigation into the abduction and attack on the man.
This morning, they arrested a man in his 40s at his home in Ardfert near Tralee. Sinn Féin election candidate in North Kerry, Martin Ferris, confirmed this afternoon that the man arrested was his Director of Elections, James Sheehan.
Since the upsurge in vigilante activity, there have been allegations of Sinn Féin involvement. The former Labour leader, Dick Spring, has alleged that Sinn Féin were connected with the attack in Castleisland.
"Well certainly there has been an upsurge and it is totally unacceptable behaviour and it is my belief and a belief that is widely shared in North Kerry that this is the responsibility of Sinn Féin and the IRA and their activities in the locality," said the former Tánaiste.
However, Sinn Féin's Martin Ferris has consistently denied that his party had anything to do with the incident. "Well I totally refute that. Sinn Féin, as I have said in every statement that I have made and in every media interview that I have done, that we are not supportive of vigilantism. I ask people to desist from vigilantism," he said.
