Sinn Féin Laois County Councillor Aidan Mullins has resigned from the party accusing it of losing its way.
He told RTÉ News that he believes the party had not provided effective opposition on issues ranging from immigration to hate speech legislation.
Mr Mullins, who was first elected in 2014, said he was told by Sinn Féin last Friday that he was facing a three month suspension from the party over breaches its ethics charter.
This followed a complaint that he had shared "anti-trans" content online.
"Last February, I shared a post about a decision from a governing body that decided to ban biological men from taking part in female sports. I had never made any comment on the post, I simply re-shared the decision," he said.
Mr Mullins accused the party of trying to silence him and he said that this was unacceptable.
He added Sinn Féin was out of touch with the public on many issues and he claimed the party was now a "mudguard for the government."
