We won’t back Ó Cuív, FF TDs tell the rebels

You can run as Independent, Dev’s grandson told

FIANNA Fáil TDs have dismissed the idea of Éamon Ó Cuív running for the Áras, but calls are growing among councillors that the party should have its own candidate.

Amid grassroots disquiet, TDs are sticking firmly by their decision.

Communications spokesman Timmy Dooley said yesterday that the matter was ‘closed’.

He even warned Mr Ó Cuív – a grandson of party founder and former president Éamon de Valera – that if he ran, he would do so as an Independent. He said the parliamentary party discussed the issue last month and decided to back President Michael D Higgins.

But Galway councillor Ollie Crowe has written to councils urging them to back Mr Ó Cuív.

And yesterday, Galway County Council chairman Seán Ó Tuairisg upped the ante, revealing No word yet: Éamon Ó Cuív how a group within Fianna Fail intend to write to leader Micheál Martin to ask him to reconsider the decision. He also said Mr Ó Cuív had met the council but had not yet said whether he will run or not.

He said that when the parliamentary party decided to back the President, ‘we didn’t know there would be a presidential election, but now we know there will be and I think Fianna Fáil should be out there in front of the people and be visible, and I think we’d have a very good candidate in Éamon Ó Cuív’.

He told Raidió na Gaeltachta: ‘I think they may have made the decision too quickly... I know there are councillors here [in Galway] who think we should be running a candidate.’

Councillors have criticised the fact that the decision was made by the TDs and senators, while other elected representatives didn’t have a say.

But while TDs admitted to the Irish Daily Mail there are divisions on the issue, they are sticking to their guns. Eugene Murphy of Roscommon-Galway said: ‘The parliamentary party alone has the power to decide if we run a presidential candidate, and that decision was made at a meeting last month.’ However, he acknowledged that some in the party were unhappy, saying: ‘There are divided views, but in general, we think Michael D has done a good job, and he has the will of the people behind him.’

Kerry TD John Brassil said: ‘The discussion is over. We made a decision and it’s done now.’

And Wicklow TD Pat Casey said: ‘Of course there are elements of the party disappointed that we are not running a candidate, but there was a feeling that Michael D is the incumbent and there hasn’t been a challenge against the incumbent for a number of years now.’

Some in the party feel that an election would prove too costly, but in his letter to councillors, Cllr Crowe said: ‘Sitting on the sidelines is simply not a suitable or appropriate option; our party’s role is to run in political races, not turn away from them. The lack of consultation with representatives and members of the party in making this decision was an error but it is not one we need to live with.’

‘Sitting on sideline is not an option’