A SINN Fein TD has said she's now willing to pay back €12,000 in rent arrears to a homeless charity.

Violet-Anne Wynne was evicted from social housing for a failure to pay €63 a week over four years.

1 Newly elected Sinn Fein TD Violet Anne Wynne

The Clare TD was in housing provided by non-profit organisation Rural Regeneration Ireland, which encourages city people to move to the country to help rural economies.

The Kilrush-based politician claimed the person who decided to publicise information about her court case with RRI was “politically motivated” to harm her campaign.

And yesterday she said paying back the arrears is "complicated" as the RRI no longer exists - but said she will give the sum to charity if paying back the RRI is not possible.

In a statement, Ms Wynne said: "I am more than willing to pay back the arrears. Doing so is made more complicated as the Rural Resettlement Ireland is no longer in existence.

"But if paying back the RRI isn't possible, I will instead to pay the money back to a charity such as a mental health charity as those services are under-funded in the region.

"My circumstances have changed now obviously. But at the time of the arrears, my partner was very ill with hemiplegic migraine, which leads to symptoms like those suffered by people having a stroke.

"He was out of work as a result and we also had a sick child too. We were travelling back and forth to Limerick every day with him to the hospital.

"It was a very difficult time for us but thankfully our circumstances have changed."

Ms Wynne, a graduate from Trinity College Dublin, previously said she had a falling-out with the organisation and didn’t pay up because of family health problems.

RRI, which folded last year because of a lack of funding, was forced to take Ms Wynne to court for not paying her rent. Deputy Wynne, her partner and three children left after a judge granted an eviction order in 2016.



DONATION SUGGESTION

Before her statement, RRI founder Jim Connolly proposed that Wynne make a €12,000 donation to a homeless charity in view of the fact she will now earn an annual salary of €96,189.

He said: “Violet Anne Wynne is now going to be a legislator in the Dail and I believe a legislator should comply with the law”.

It emerged this week that Ms Wynne also has expressed strong opposition to the HPV and other vaccinations.

In a series of social media comments, she criticised the HSE for suggesting there was no scientific evidence that vaccines were unsafe.

ANTI-VAXX REMARKS

Asked about Wynne’s anti-vaxxer comments, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she did not agree with her deputy and said: “Vaccinations are an essential part of public health and we urge everybody to be vaccinated.”

Tonight Wynne said her past comments about HPV vaccines were old remarks and do not reflect her current views or Sinn Féin policy.

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She said: “The points that I made previously in relation to vaccinations were not in line with party policy and predate my election as a TD by a number of years.

“At the time there were a number of people that raised concerns about vaccines and I was simply relaying those concerns.

“Let me be absolutely clear - vaccines save lives and are a crucial part of modern life and it is only because of them that we now enjoy the greatest life expectancy in human history.”