A Galway city councillor has resigned his seat following serious allegations made about him on social media.
Owen Hanley said that the allegations would take a considerable length of time to investigate and so he believed that resigning from the council was the correct course of action.
Mr Hanley had represented the Social Democrats party on Galway City Council since 2019.
In a statement this afternoon, the party said the whip was removed from Mr Hanley when it first learned of the allegations.
It added that he had now also resigned his membership.
Mr Hanley was elected in 2019 on his first attempt at the age of 23. He represented Galway City East.
In its statement, the Social Democrats party said that it notified the relevant statutory authorities charged with investigating these allegations as soon as it became aware of them.
The party added that it takes "allegations of this nature extremely seriously and has at all times strictly adhered to our statutory obligations".
Mr Hanley, in his statement on Facebook yesterday, said that he would be making no further comment.
