Frank McBrearty Jnr is an Irish politician and businessman, who has been a County Councillor on Donegal County Council since 2009. The son of Frank McBrearty Snr, McBrearty became known nationally as a result of the Morris Tribunal's ruling that police had tried to frame him for the 1996 murder of Richie Barron. McBrearty pursued the Irish state in a long-running legal battle to restore his good name. In 2005, he settled all his claims against the Irish state.[1][2]
Frank McBrearty Jnr | |
|---|---|
| Donegal County Councillor | |
| Assumed office June 2009 | |
| Constituency | Lifford-Stranorlar local electoral area (2019–present) Stranorlar local electoral area (2009–19) |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Independent |
| Other political affiliations | Labour Party (2009–13) Fine Gael (April and May 2019) |
McBrearty was in court in 2012, when a landmark judgement found in favour of him and his wife against Allied Irish Banks (AIB).[3]
Politics
McBrearty ran in the 2009 local elections for the Labour Party.[4] He stood in the Stranorlar local electoral area, and was elected to Donegal County Council.[5][6] He was re-elected for the same area as an Independent in 2014.[7] In late May 2019 he was again elected, this time for the Lifford-Stanorlar local electoral area, and for the Fine Gael party,[8] having joined that party two months earlier.[9][10] But by the start of June he had resigned from the party and said he intended to sue it for post-traumatic stress disorder, after claiming that he was "the victim of internal party bullying".[9][10] He also threatened to "make the council unworkable" if he was "excluded from power-sharing".[10]McBrearty has been accused of act(ing) like (a) thug... at a council meeting in Buncrana in which he allegedly and forcibly removed or stole a mobile device from another elected official. Gardai are investigating the incident, which McBrearty denies despite several witnesses. McBrearty has made reference to a phone being in the middle of the Atlantic.[11]