A former Fine Gael TD and Senator has issued sharp criticism of the party’s approach to its presidential nomination and the campaign that followed.
While party leaders attempted to project confidence after the election result, Fine Gael members in Limerick—where the party holds two Dáil seats—were candid about their disappointment at the scale of the defeat, reports Breaking News.
“Look, we fu*ked up,” is how one long-time Limerick Fine Gael official put it, reports Breaking News.
Among those most shaken by the outcome of last Saturday’s presidential election was former Fine Gael TD and Senator Michael Finucane, who represented west County Limerick in the Dáil between 1989 and 1997, and served in the Seanad from 2002 to 2007.
Mr Finucane said that although he canvassed for Heather Humphreys, he believed the Fine Gael leadership made a “cardinal mistake” in selecting her as its presidential nominee and claimed that grassroots members had “no say” in the process, reports Breaking News.
“People in the party won’t like what I’m saying, but, I’m very annoyed and very cross, because I do believe they picked the wrong candidate, and we had no say,” Mr Finucane said, reports Breaking News.
Finucane said that the result left him “more depressed” than after any other election, even the one in 2002 when he lost his seat to his Fine Gael colleague Dan Neville by a single vote.
He had “anticipated” that Ms Humphreys would face an uphill battle after pre-election polls showed Catherine Connolly with a commanding lead, but out of loyalty to Fine Gael, “I canvassed for the party and I campaigned for Heather Humphreys, and I’m bitterly disappointed,” reports Breaking News.
The former chair of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee argued that the party’s leadership should have supported MEP Sean Kelly instead.
“As far as I was concerned, Sean Kelly, didn’t get a chance. They didn’t seem to recognize that he contested the European elections last year, and he got close on 130,000 votes — So, he proved he was a vote getter,” said Mr Finucane, reports Breaking News.
“Sean Kelly is fluent in Irish, and I believe that the party made a cardinal mistake in their nomination,” he added, reports Breaking News.
The Fine Gael veteran acknowledged that the election results signalled a broader political “sea-change” away from the centre towards the left.
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“In actual fact, you see the sea change (Saturday), where Connolly did extremely well in County Limerick, and we (Fine Gael) got just around 30% of the vote, that’s it.” “There’s a message in that in relation to how the electorate think out there,” reports Breaking News.
“But the fact is this, certainly, left-parties will be a lot more joyful as a result of this election than the mainstream parties,” reports Breaking News.
Finucane, who was part of Fine Gael’s tally team at the Limerick count centre, said the party must conduct an internal review of the “strategy” it used, particularly concerning “the type of procedure that exists with regards to the selection of a candidate.”
He maintained that the party leadership must remember that grassroots members remain central to Fine Gael’s success: “They’re the people who slog the countryside for the party, there’s a lack of recognition for them,” reports Breaking News.
If “lessons are to be learned,” Finucane said, the internal review should be carried out by “sensible” individuals and “not people who are inside as part of the inner circle,” reports Breaking News.
He added that Fine Gael’s leadership needs to “change the strategy with regards to the selection of people, whether it’s the leader or for the president or otherwise.”
“The day should be gone where the Oireachtas members have an undue influence — They’re part of the inner circle, and in this case, Heather was part of the inner circle as well,” he said, reports Breaking News.
Party member Jim O’Farrell from Limerick also said he would have supported Sean Kelly for the nomination if given the opportunity to vote, and he called for a review of the party’s nomination system.
Limerick Fine Gael TD and Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan defended both the nomination process and the campaign led by the party’s replacement candidate, Heather Humphreys, reports Breaking News.
“I wouldn’t say it was a colossal failure of Fine Gael, Fine Gael was the only party to contest this election. The winning candidate had the backing of six different political parties,” said Minister O’Donovan, reports Breaking News.
“We have, as a party, retained our share of the vote, and we had an excellent candidate,” he added, reports Breaking News.
Minister O’Donovan said Fine Gael had initially selected Mairead McGuinness, “who, for health reasons, couldn’t contest the election, and Heather Humphries stood forward.”
When asked about suggestions that some within the party would have preferred Sean Kelly as the presidential candidate, he replied: “We have an internal process for selection. We went through a process, and ultimately that process resulted in our candidate being selected,” reports Breaking News.
Mr O’Donovan added that while Fine Gael’s share of the presidential vote had increased, the party would review how it managed the campaign.
“We’ll always examine results of elections,” he said, reports Breaking News.
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