Aengus O' Snodaigh: Pure as snow

Aengus O' Snodaigh: There has been talk of his connections to criminal activity; one of his campaigners was jailed for membership of the IRA; and his wife was found guilty of public order offences. But he says all that matters is his constituency work

Aengus O'Snodaigh says he is not just an election time politician. If you live in his Dublin South Central constituency, you will probably never need to go looking for him because he comes knocking on your door about once a month, to "seek out the issues that are important to people".

He has been accused of having close ties with criminal activity: one of his election workers was convicted of IRA membership, he has had his photograph taken in Castelrea prison with four men convicted of killing Detective Gerry McCabe, and his wife was arrested for public order offences. But he says these issues never come up when he speaks to his constituents, and none of them have ever challenged him on them.

He represents every aspect of Sinn Féin that other politicians are suspicious of – and threatened by. The allegations and scandals didn't halt the party's growing popularity in his constituency, which won three council seats in the last local elections having never had one before. He believes this is a result of listening to what people have to say and getting the support of citizens who would not otherwise vote.

The Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, best reflected general suspicions about Sinn Féin TDs when he called on them to "come clean" on what he described as the party's links with criminal activity. His remarks followed the conviction of one of O'Snodaigh's election campaigners for IRA membership. Niall Binead was jailed last November when Gardaí discovered a document containing the names of up to 20 Fine Fáil and Fine Gael TDs and details of their movements.

He had worked on O'Snodaigh's campaign during the last election and was a former branch-secretary, but the TD says he knew nothing of the IRA man's illegal activities: "I know him well, he is a family man and I worked with him for years but he was not acting on my behalf and was not authorised to do what he was doing".

He says the controversy did not harm his reputation because "most people were happy enough that the convicted men had nothing to do with me".

Two months later his wife, Aisling Ni Dalaigh, was found guilty of public order offences after being accused of throwing a glass at a Garda patrol car in Dublin. He says the story was, "Blown out of all proportions. She was cleared of all the charges except the drunk and disorderly one because the evidence was not there". He says his wife, "Would never be involved in what was alleged in some newspapers", and that it caused a lot of hurt to his family.

A shadow was cast over his name again in February when his election posters were found in a van used by five men accused of IRA membership. Again he claims that he did not know how this happened, but this time he didn't know the men involved.

Despite all the allegations of his close ties with people involved in the IRA, he says, "Nobody connected with criminality has a place within the republican movement".

At the moment, O'Snodaigh has five Sinn Féin colleagues working with him in the Dáil. Two more seats would give the party significantly more power and recognition: they would have time allocated to them as a party; when a Bill opens they would be allocated thirty minutes to speak on it, and they would also be given private member's time, allowing them to set the agenda for the Dáil.

O'Snodaigh believes that they will win these seats and even more, "Based on the results of the local and European elections, I think we could get three more seats in the Dáil because there are a number of constituencies where our support is growing". Despite all the controversy hanging over his name, O'Snodaigh insists that, "At the end of the day people will vote on our hard work in the constituencies".