Energised McDowell and Ivan Yates join 700 at Verona’s rally
Ex-PD leader impressed by level of enthusiasm at meeting
AS political eyes were firmly focused on Fine Gael and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s shock resignation, the first shots of an Independent onslaught on ‘conventional parties’ were fired this week.
While Taoiseach-in-waiting Simon Harris was consolidating his position in Dublin, in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, former Fine Gael TD Verona Murphy staged a massive rally to launch 10 Independent local election candidates.
More than 700 supporters crammed into the function room of the Riverside Hotel for the event, which – significantly – was also attended by Senator Michael McDowell.
Last week, the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed a group of at least seven Independent TDs were mobilising around the former Progressive Democrats leader in the wake of the Government’s crushing double-referendum defeat.
And talks are continuing between conservative-leaning Independents, with a view to forming a new Dáil alliance that could potentially hold the balance of power after
‘We are not populists. We are realists’
the next General Election.
Speaking to the MoS after the event, Mr McDowell said the meeting ‘is a real sign of things to come’.
Addressing her supporters at the event – at which the former local TD and Fine Gael minister Ivan Yates was MC – Ms Murphy referenced the 1798 rebellion: ‘As we sit in the foothills of Vinegar Hill you have the opportunity to elect a political movement that will bring real change.
‘We are not populists, we are realists, and in Wexford we are sending a clear message to Dublin; “hands off”.’
In an open attack on the Coalition party leaders, she warned the time is up ‘for the three wise men’.
One senior figure in the fledgling Independent alliance also warned Taoiseach-in-waiting Simon Harris that: ‘The public mood is not just one of “Amach Leo” – they want his whole Government out.’
Another source said of the meeting: ‘McDowell was impressed. He said he had not seen anything like it since the PDs in 1985.’
And Ivan Yates added: ‘It was certainly very like the PDs when they started; I saw a lot of familiar Fine Gael faces.’
Buoyed by the turnout and the response, a source said that, ‘depending on how the council elections go,’ Deputy Murphy ‘could yet run a running mate’.
They said of the event: ‘I haven’t seen the like of that enthusiasm in decades.
‘All the parties will be worried by that. It’s not just businesspeople and ex-Fine Gaelers; they are eating Sinn Féin’s lunch too.
‘Independents pose an existential threat to Sinn Féin if they are guided properly.
‘This is the prototype for how Independents could operate across the country.
‘McDowell is involved because he has dedicated his life to combating Sinn Féin.’ The source said of Mr McDowell’s speech at the event: ‘He extolled the virtues of Verona taking on the establishment.
‘He noted there is a mood for change that reminded him of the PDs in 1985.’
Ms Murphy wasted no time in turning her guns on Fine Gael; the party she left after being deselected as an election candidate following comments she made linking migrants to Islamic State.
She told her audience: ‘I believed honest-to-God common sense and hard work would get results. I believed all politicians acted in good faith.
‘It took two months to find out this is not how politics works. When I began turning the heat up on the establishment, I became a national pariah. I was cancelled.
‘After I decided to dust myself down and run as an Independent, they used every trick in the book. They said “she’s a mouthpiece, she is a nasty piece of work”. My hard work was turning the heat up on the establishment. The cosy cartel had a disrupter.
‘Political enemies became the best of friends, and I was not a team player.’
Echoing fellow Independent
Michael Fitzmaurice’s call for ‘common-sense’ politics, she said: ‘We should be able to build houses, cut hedges when it’s appropriate and use common sense in our farming activities, but no-one is listening.’
She said of the Coalition leaders: ‘The three wise men who are running the country do not care what you think because they always know better.’
The Wexford TD also called for a snap General Election following the Taoiseach’s announcement this week that he is stepping down.
‘We should have a General Election and we should have it now. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have lost the people, so the people should have their say,’ she added.
‘I believed all politicians acted in good faith’