Verona swings axe at Fine Gael
FORMER FINE GAEL CANDIDATE SAYS PARTY HAS FAILED PEOPLE OF RURAL IRELAND AND SAYS KEHOE AND D’ARCY GAVE MINIMAL SUPPORT
HAVING been deselected as a Fine Gael candidate in the General Election, Verona Murphy has hit out at her former party, saying they ruined her campaign and have failed rural Ireland.
Speaking at her Ramsgrange home where she was busy fielding calls from Italy for her trucking business when we arrived, Murphy says she will make a decision on whether or not she will run as an Independent candidate in mid-January.
She said: ‘I am drained but on reflection I am fine. I am resigned. It was a bit of a shock initially. You don’t know what to expect; there are only two options, you are either on the ticket or you are deselected. It’s been a harrowing six weeks and I’ve been worrying about my parents because they are new to all of this.’
Murphy was informed by Finance Minister Pascal Donohoe in person on Tuesday that she was no longer a Fine Gael candidate. ‘It was delivered in a very formal, deadpan way. It took all of 10 minutes and he said that we have lots of differences of opinions, particularly in relation to the migrant issue and he said “we feel that if you were a candidate it could happen again and that they’d have no control”.’
Murphy said she has apologised for her poor use of language when she said migrants need to be deprogrammed. ‘I have learned from it and it’s something I will consider in the future greatly.’
On Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s decision to approve her as a candidate in March, Murphy said: ‘It was a quick courtship. The consideration was because I was president of the Irish Road Haulage Association I was asked by the Taoiseach and I was interviewed by party secretary Tom Curran and it was laid out in front of me just how it would be run and it was for a general election that I was selected. There was no mention of a by-election at the time so I thought about it as it would very much be a new departure and I went back and said yes.’
She confirmed that there was media training, which was largely limited to specific programmes. ‘It was generally for specific interviews like going on the Tonight Show. I found it really difficult to be honest because you are not saying what you are thinking; you’re saying what they are thinking.’
She said contrary to reports, she wasn’t blaming anyone else for how her campaign went, adding that she was proud of her vote, especially as she was a first time candidate.
Murphy said Mr Varadkar and the party knew what she was like before they chose her as the third candidate on the Fine Gael ticket, and also about the bullying case, (she denies ever bullying anyone).
‘I’ve been in the media for five years and I’m known as a straight talker. I was five years President of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) and because of that position I had lots of interaction with many of them and they know I was as strong character and I don’t take no for an answer and people refer to me as being like a dog with a bone. And as the Taoiseach said at my office opening he said I’m very straight talking and forthright, but his comments later were “you think you know someone”.’
She takes issue with Mr Varadkar’s claims in an interview with Pat Kenny on Virgin Media 1 in which he said: ‘The controversies around both of them (Dara and Verona Murphy) and others have caused reputational damage for the party and I feel that very intensely and I know our party members and activists around the country feel that very intensely as well.’
Murphy said she increased the party vote in the county.
‘I think this is how I affected the reputation. I got the highest vote of all of the four party candidates in the by-election. I increased the percentage vote in Co Wexford by bringing in 9,543 votes first preference. So if that is what he means by affecting it, I affected it by improving it.
‘I’m resilient. Be under no illusion I won’t be bullied. I stand over the fact that I made the apology in relation to that and it was sincere.’
She said upon reflection she was never going to be a good fit for a party like Fine Gael, who, she feels, have failed the people of rural Ireland during their tenure in power.
‘I think the Taoiseach’s comments (about my apology not being genuine) are rather disingenuous.’
On the ‘media assassination’ video which was released the day before the by-election, she said she was aware of it and approved of the sentiments of it.
‘When Minister Donohoe spoke about it he said he didn’t like the tone, but when you think of the Taoiseach’s comments he said there is a reference to a Dublin centric government, that is the reference by (former Enniscorthy councillor) Paddy Kavanagh when he said “we will not be dictated to by people inside the pale”.
‘They are the issues I was raising, namely the disconnect between urban and rural and I was told “don’t be saying it”. They didn’t want to hear it. Their opinion is there is no disconnect, mine is that it is actually broadening by the day.’
She said the decision to ban her from doing debates and media was hugely damaging and potentially cost her hundreds, if not thousands of votes.
‘I think if you’ve got a slogan that says Local & Vocal and you have a media ban, I think that’s hugely damaging. Even the concept for people, “oh she’s not very vocal now” probably became a bit of a laugh. I was embarrassed by the empty chair. I was embarrassed by the fact that George Lawlor was allowed to say that a senior Fine Gael source confirmed to him that this was all part of a strategy to play the race card.
‘I was hugely embarrassed by that because it’s so untrue and I have called on George to come out and confirm that source that he didn’t make it up himself. We ran a very clean campaign. We had only one objective and that was to get the seat. Apart from the fact that there was a media ban, we didn’t say anything about anybody.’
She got minimal support from Paul Kehoe and Michael D’Arcy Jnr.
‘Paul Kehoe came out and canvassed once in his own area of Bree and he appeared for the opening of the office in one or two photo-calls. Michael D’Arcy canvassed with Charlie Flanagan and he appeared for every photograph and left.’
She said she couldn’t be herself within the party. ‘On reflection I have to be honest, I wasn’t aware that the party structure was going to be so limiting and rigid in terms of voicing opinion and freedom of speech. I am not someone who is reckless. I made a mistake but my opinions are valid.
‘My opinions come from experience in relation to rural Ireland and I know what is required in terms of Rosslare Europort. Ramsgrange is rural, as are Ballyhack, Arthurstown and Ballycullane. They are not Gorey. They are rural Ireland villages and there is a disconnect.
‘The Taoiseach is probably a little more upset about the content of the video, in which one of the individuals says we won’t be dictated to by people inside the pale. These were among the issues I was trying to raise that nobody wanted to listen to.’
She said she was very disappointed by health minister Simon Harris’s comments in which he said Fine Gael’s decision to deselect her was ‘looking better by the moment’, before he added: ‘I think anybody who engages in stoking what I believe are unfounded racists fears has no place in the Fine Gael party.’
‘I am very disappointed that someone as minister for health would politicise an issue for his own benefit to deflect from his own ineptitude, I don’t like that he has politicised the point.’
On security, she believes she has far more knowledge and is far better placed to speak on migrants than any government minister, having attended security meetings where Interpol and MI5 agents have spoken.
She said she would give the government 0 out of 100 for security. ‘We are an island and we are very vulnerable. They are not identifying a potential issue that might happen down the road and will only pay attention to it if there was an atrocity. London Bridge: the perpetrator had lived in Ireland under citizenship for seven years. His documentation was found with a North African migrant living in Wexford. It’s a security issue.
‘Does an incident have to occur on Wexford Bridge before something is done? Is prevention not better than cure?’
‘I think my practical experience is greater than anybody in Dáil Eireann. I am not sure any politician has been to visit a migrant camp in Calais like the Jungle. Most politicians meet Syrian refugees within the confines of an Emergency Reception and Orientation Centre here in Ireland and I’m not sure many of them understand where they are coming from, except that it’s from warn torn countries.
‘It’s not the same as living rough in a tent in Calais trying to break into trailers every day. You’re not dealing with the same people. They haven’t seen the devastation that it has caused to businesses and the risks that it will cause to Brexit.’
She said being a truck driver on the continent is a very stressful job, adding that there is a marked lack of security at Irish ports compared to French ports like Le Havre.
‘It’s becoming frustrating because if migrants break into your trailer and do huge damage there is no repercussion. The 16 migrants who came into Ireland weren’t charged with breaking and entering and it’s hugely frustrating because of the millions of pounds worth of damage and they are posing risks to companies because insurance is at such a level and it can’t continue. Jobs are at risk, hugely at risk and it’s getting much worse much faster because it’s happening so often and that is the security issue for the haulage companies.’
She said the 16 immigrants found in a container in Rosslare Europort were removed by ambulance from Rosslare to a Direct Provision centre. ‘The next day 11 of them absconded and four days later they had all disappeared or absconded. I am concerned as the difference between them and the seven people found in Belview were just deported. It was the right decision because they haven’t come here in the way that we are obliged to accept them.’
She said Ireland is meeting its targets under the UN International Programme in accommodating migrants, adding that the comments she made in an interview with this newspaper in which she said migrant children as young as three may have been infiltrated by Isis have been taken out of context and have been misquoted in several media outlets and said her character was assassinated by the media by accusing her of bullying in headlines and referring to her partner’s tax dealings.
‘It happened as recently as on Thursday this week,’ adding that she is considering taking legal actions.
She said the campaign has changed her.
‘It has changed me. It has opened my eyes, particularly to issues that Fine Gael would have you believe aren’t actually issues. I am not a stupid person and I don’t do bullshit. For instance when you travel around rural Ireland and you canvass people and the health service and the money that is being put into and there are massive issues that are not in the public arena and are on many people’s doors and it makes it very, very tough. They are not getting the help or services and the most vulnerable people are having to fight so hard.
‘The Arden House mental health centre issue is one that particularly gets on my goat because they continually promise through sending messages on Facebook, but it’s not going to happen. The people of Wexford that need those services need them now.’
She said the legislative role of an MEP appeals to her. ‘The MEP role for me certainly is something that I have a lot of experience of through my lobbying in Europe. I am a Diversity Ambassador, but my lobbying as president of the IRHA means we would be briefing and lobbying with all MEPS across all countries because the transport sector is one sector. It would be attractive to me in the way that you are making legislation. We have to have a voice in that legislation and unfortunately because we are a small country we have a small voice.’
She said Fine Gael has failed rural Ireland.
‘What is a bigger issue is that they are failing to recognise the disconnect and they are going to fail it even more. They aren’t seeing the impact of decisions being made, of legislation being implemented. We all know that when legislation is implemented you abide by it and that is causing a huge issue rurally in the social disconnect. Figures were released last week which show the population in rural Ireland is dwindling.
‘If you can’t get a job because you can’t drive after 12 lessons, you don’t get a job because you can’t move and you stay unemployed and the infrastructure in rural Ireland is far different from what it is in urban Ireland.’
On potentially running as an Independent, she said: ‘The campaign has been a huge learning curve. It has also been pretty harrowing for the last six weeks. I want to put what I have learned into my train of thought to help me to take stock. I am going to consider it all and I really don’t know. If you have to abide by something like the party structure and they are dictating in a way that you can’t defend yourself and then I have to think what will suit me.
‘I am back as IRHA President. I had only stepped aside and I am there until 2021. I have got nothing but support. I haven’t received any texts calling me a racist. There may be a few messages on social media but I don’t read negativity. I am a person who looks forward, not backwards and all the support helps that greatly.’
She thanked her campaign team, saying: ‘For me the hardest part to understand is people putting their lives on hold to help me and to help the party. I have met absolutely wonderful people who I never would have met otherwise and I am grateful for that.
‘I have made loads of friends of all ages. I will always be grateful for that because I wouldn’t have had that experience without Fine Gael.’