“I’ve nothing to say on the job, other than I’m extremely happy with the job and I’m very grateful for it,” she said.
Patricia Ryan, the former Sinn Féin TD for Kildare South, has returned to Leinster House in a new role - this time as a parliamentary assistant to Independent TD Brian Stanley, who also resigned from Sinn Fein.
Ms Ryan parted ways with the party in October 2024.
Her resignation came just a week before Sinn Féin’s selection convention for the Kildare South constituency.
She subsequently ran as an Independent in the general election but failed to retain her seat.
Ms Ryan confirmed her new appointment to the Irish Independent but declined to go into detail.
“I’ve nothing to say on the job, other than I’m extremely happy with the job and I’m very grateful for it,” she said.
The parliamentary assistant role carries a starting salary of €48,483.
Under Oireachtas rules, all TDs are entitled to employ both a parliamentary assistant and an administrative assistant to support their legislative and constituency work.
Ms Ryan’s departure from Sinn Féin followed a period of growing dissatisfaction.
In an interview with Kfm on Kildare Today at the time of her resignation, she said she had felt “curtailed,” “undermined,” and “intimidated” within the party.
Describing her decision to step away as “very hard,” she noted that she had wrestled with it for over a year and a half.
Her new employer, now Independent TD Brian Stanley, also left Sinn Féin amid significant controversy.
He resigned from the party last year following an internal inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct - claims he strongly denies.
He criticised the internal process, describing it as a “kangaroo court.”
There is no suggestion of any connection between the resignations of Mr Stanley and Ms Ryan.
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