By Elaine Loughlin, Irish Examiner political reporter

Mary Lou McDonald has distanced herself from a former Sinn Féin Councillor whose home has been raided by the Gardaí.

Detectives searched the Dublin home of Jonathan Dowdall who was a close ally of the Sinn Féin deputy leader before he left the party amid bullying claims.

A BMW car, motorbike and other items were taken by gardaí during a search of the 38-year-old’s house earlier this week.

But speaking outside the Dáil this afternoon Ms McDonald moved to make it clear that Mr Dowdall, who was elected for the party to Dublin City Council in 2014, now has “no political affiliation to Sinn Féin”.

“As you are all aware the person concerned Jonathan Dowdall left Sinn Féin some time ago, in fact he publicly endorsed and worked on and I think still works with a rival candidate within Dublin Central,” she said,

“I am very concerned that the gardaí pursue matters in an appropriate and an efficient way but on the issue of Jonathan himself, he left Sinn Féin, that was a matter of some public comment if you recall at the time.”

Mr Dowdall left the party and the city council after claiming he had been bullied by members of Sinn Féin – a claim which was denied by the party.

Ms McDonald who was re-elected in the Dublin Central constituency added: “I am concerned if anybody is breaking the law, but I am not in a position to make any comment as regards Johnathon, it is neither my place nor my business to cast any aspiration on him that would not be proper or appropriate."

Separately Ms McDonald called on Finance Minister Michael Noonan to come before the Dáil at its next sitting on 22nd March to answer questions arising from the Northern Assembly’s Inquiry Report into NAMA's sale of its Northern Loan Book.

She said the party has been seeking a commission of investigation into the sale of NAMA’s Northern Loan Book but this has been “strongly resisted” by Mr Noonan.

“Minister Noonan must come before the Dáil to answer questions in relation to this matter of serious public concern and to be held accountable for his actions or inactions as the case may be.

“It is also clear that NAMA no longer commands full public trust in acting in the best interests of the taxpayer. We certainly don’t believe that the taxpayer got value for money in relation to this sale.

“The account given by NAMA Chairman Frank Daly is not credible, does not command public confidence and both he and NAMA have serious questions to answer,” Ms McDonald said.