‘FF was unchristian towards me’

A FORMER Fianna Fáil candidate has blasted the party, making a series of allegations about the “unchristian” way she was treated during the last general election campaign.

Longford-based Connie Gerety-Quinn hit out at leader Micheál Martin and her running mate and sitting TD Robert Troy in an online tirade.

There was unrest in Fianna Fáil locally when Ms Gerety-Quinn was selected to run in Longford-Westmeath as part of the party’s bid to meet gender quotas.

Ms Gerety-Quinn seized on remarks made by Mr Martin about a recent incident where Mr Troy was refused communion by a priest due to his position on abortion. Mr Martin said it was “unchristian”.

In a Facebook post, Ms Gerety-Quinn made a string of claims about the 2016 election.

Among them was an incident where Mr Troy rang her to tell her to take down three of her posters in Westmeath. She claimed he threatened to put up his posters in Longford. She said: “That’s unchristian.”

She said abortion was “unchristian” and argued that the priest in the incident with Mr Troy was following Church rules. She asked why Mr Martin came to Mr Troy’s defence, claiming no one had done this for her in the election.

Mr Troy responded to the post online, saying Mr Martin did not come to his defence and merely gave an opinion on a news report when asked.

He acknowledged the phone call about posters but said he arranged for a billboard with their images to be put up in Westmeath.

He said he had been a reluctant supporter of repealing the Eighth Amendment.

He also said he believed in God and “will leave the judgment to Him”.