Fine Gael Cork South Central convention ends with disaffected members threatening to quit party

Long standing members of Fine Gael in Cork South Central have been sending letters of resignation to party headquarters following a fractious selection convention on Tuesday night and a number of delegates refused to vote in the contest, a well placed party source has told The Echo.

The threatened resignations and refusals to vote at the convention followed the reading of a directive from the party’s Executive Council stipulating that one candidate from the Carrigaline Municipal District had to be included on the ticket. 

The reading of this letter by senior party figure and Minister for State, Jennifer Carroll McNeill, sparked angry contributions from the floor from a number of delegates.

According to the well placed party source who spoke to The Echo, Mr O’Callaghan topped the poll with more than 120 votes while Senator Jerry Buttimer received more than 60 votes. John Mullins and Des Cahill received more than 30 votes while Una McCarthy had between 10 and 20 votes.

John Mullins and Des Cahill received more than 30 votes each while Una McCarthy had between 10 and 20 votes.

According to the party directive, however, Shane O’Callaghan and Una McCarthy were selected as Fine Gael’s flag bearers in Cork South Central, which is now a five seater.

“An instruction came from Dublin to members directing that one of the candidates ‘has to be resident in the Carrigaline area’ and there was a visceral and angry reaction from the floor that lasted for 20 minutes,” said the source. 

“Multiple people stood up and called out the process as anti democratic.

“That was in the context of Jennifer Carroll MacNeill saying Fine Gael was a party of democracy and a party of doing things openly.

“I think the backlash will only be the start of a rift and more serious division in the party.” 

Two of the unsuccessful candidates also spoke to The Echo. 

John Mullins, who recently received 33,000 first preference votes in the European Elections, said he would not be running for Fine Gael in any other constituency and said that he believed a large proportion of his vote in the June poll came from Cork South Central.

Senator Buttimer extended his congratulations to the two successful candidates. “They’re two fine candidates and I wish them well and I was very pleased with the people who supported me,” he said.

“The directive was what it was and it affected the outcome and that’s the way it is,” he added. 

“I’m very pleased with the vote I got at convention and I’m very happy to continue working in the role I’m in and that’s all I have to say at the moment because no-one knows what’s going to happen in the future.”