Sinn Fein has asked a Dublin city councillor, who resigned from the party in a row over bullying, to hand her seat back.

The party has released a statement saying that Noeleen Reilly was suspended for bullying a fellow female party councillor.

Councillor Reilly resigned last night, alleging that it was she was the victim of bullying – and insisting that party leaders had failed to deal with the problem.

She has been a Sinn Féin councillor ever since she was elected in 2014.

Last night she announced that she was resigning from the party with immediate effect.

The move came after she was suspended for a period of six months at a weekend meeting of the leadership board.

At the same meeting, her party Colleague Dessie Ellis was censured, the pair had been engaged in a war of words for a number of months.

Following her resignation, Councillor Reilly said she was the victim of a bullying campaign.

She said she had sought the help of the party leadership in 2014 but was told to 'keep matters internal.'

However in a statement released this morning, Sinn Fein says that Reilly was suspended for carrying out her own bullying campaign against a fellow female party councillor on social media.

Councillor Reilly has denied these claims on twitter.

Since her resignation, Sinn Féin has requested that she hand her Dublin City Council seat back to the party.

Reporting from Kim Buckley