No way back for Kate as Fine Gael eyeing up new blood with Emma
IT appears that there will be no forgiveness for old Kate as Fine Gael target Emma Blain as the new Kate.
Allies of Tánaiste and party leader Leo Varadkar have vowed that the rebel former TD Kate O’Connell will not get a clear run at being James Geoghegan’s running mate in subsequent Dublin Bay South by-elections.
It had been expected the narrow win for Ivana Bacik would see a rapprochement with the colourful former TD.
Instead, when it comes to finding a female running mate for Mr Geoghegan, eyes are turning to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillor Emma Blain.
One source close to the Varadkar faction noted: ‘It is still war to the knife with “that woman” in Leo’s camp.’
They noted: ‘She didn’t turn out once during the campaign and expects to roll back. Throw the dice again, dear. Last time I looked, this is still the Fine Gael party, not the Kate O’Connell party.’
Another source noted: ‘The leader is slow to anger and even slower to forgive. He sees Kate as a loose cannon who can’t be trusted. It might be a leader’s folly but that’s his position and he’s not for turning.’
She is not, the source said, ‘some prodigal daughter who can have her fun and then come home. There is a price to be paid for straight talking’. The ‘unforgiven’ status of O’Connell means party eyes are now turning towards the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown rising star Ms Blain. One source noted: ‘Emma is much more our sort, a nice Protestant girl on a bike who went to [south Dublin school] Wesley.’ Ms Blain is also the political protégé of Neale Richmond, the increasingly influential Dublin South Fine Gael TD. Ms Blain was selected to replace Richmond on the council after he was elected to Seanad Eireann and was subsequently comfortably elected to the Seanad. After a colourful early career as one of the Sunday Independent 03 team, Ms Blain has recently become editor of the Anglican Gazette. One party grandee archly observed: ‘A Protestant, a mum, a career woman, very genteel, very proper... definitely not a Kate. No sods of turf there.’ She could, they added, be another Emer Higgins, ‘jolly hard-working and utterly trouble free.’ As for Kate, ‘her fate will come down to the willingness to save his most loyal supporter. The fate of Kate is a test of how much strength Coveney retains in the party. We don’t think he has much. We’ll find out’.