Waterford Councillor Declan Clune has said he quit Sinn Féin after 18 years because he'd grown apart from the party.
The Comeragh District representative issued a brief statement on Friday announcing his decision.
Today (Tuesday) he told WLR's Damien Tiernan that he got disillusioned with party politics:
"There's not one particular reason, I suppose there's a couple of smaller things that snowballed, and I suppose personally I've grown a bit apart from the party in recent times."
Cllr Clune says he has the height of respect for his fellow councillors, but he got "browned off" with party politics.
Eventhough Sinn Féin are "on the crest of a wave", according to Cllr Clune and it would have been easy for him to ride that wave, he says he didn't feel comfortable with certain matters. Although he didn't go into specific details, he referenced the issues on Waterford council last year surrounding the passing of the budget - which led to the breakup of the council pact led by Sinn Fein - and said he was in politics to serve the people who voted for him.
He was first elected to Waterford Council in 2014 and said he intends to remain an independent councillor on the local authority for the remainder of this term.
