FG’S CORK REBELLION
FINE Gael councillors from Cork have engaged in a full-scale revolt against any attempt to impose a whip on their role in selecting a presidential candidate.
The councillors instead intend to follow a policy of ‘benevolent neutrality’.
Fine Gael has not imposed an actual whip on councillors, but they have been told by HQ to respect the party decision to support Michael D Higgins’s campaign for re-election.
The declaration, however, provoked fury in ‘rebel Cork’ at a recent private meeting of councillors.
One source said: ‘The blood was fully risen, no doubt about it. It was fairly bloodcurdling as is always the case where councillors feel their dignity is at stake.
‘There were thunderous declarations about our constitutional rights and responsibilities.’
The source added that councillors were ‘unanimous in their declaration that HQ will not tell us what to do’.
Cork councillor Kevin Murphy told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘We are not as a party going to be opposing anyone. We are like Switzerland, completely neutral.
‘We are not taking any collective decision. If someone wants to back a certain candidate, then off they go – that’s our view.’
Mr Murphy added: ‘Frankly, I think an election is a very bad way to spend €25m; we would be far better spending it on homelessness.’
The Cork rebellion follows a previous declaration by two Fine Gael councillors in Meath – Maria Murphy and Alan Tobin – that they will help businessman Gavin Duffy secure a nomination from Meath County Council.
John McCartin, a Leitrim FG councillor, has also pledged support for former Dragon’s Den investor Seán Gallagher’s presidential bid.
The news will also come as a relief to an increasingly nervous set of presidential candidates who are in danger of running out of councils to secure a nomination as the numbers of nominees increase.