Minister: Cork Fine Gael members who 'get the hump' about party directives should read the rules

A Fine Gael minister has said party members who “get the hump”, like those who reportedly resigned in protest at the imposition of a candidate at last week’s Cork South Central selection convention, should “read the rules”.

Fine Gael had not had a contested convention in the constituency in 27 years, but the decision earlier this month by former tánaiste Simon Coveney not to stand for re-election resulted in five candidates putting their names forward for selection last week.

As approximately 300 members were about to vote at last Tuesday night’s convention, the selection convention’s chairperson, minister of state Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, read out a directive from the party’s national executive decreeing that two candidates were to be selected, with one of them from the Carrigaline Municipal District.

This meant that the only Carrigaline candidate, county councillor Úna McCarthy, was automatically selected without a vote.

The directive led to fractious scenes at the convention, but when the vote was taken, city councillor Shane O’Callaghan topped the poll, with a tally indicating he received 124 votes.

Of the remaining candidates, Senator Jerry Buttimer received 67 votes, Des Cahill 38 votes, and John Mullins 31 votes. Ms McCarthy got 17 votes, despite members being told in advance that she would be selected without a vote.

Anger at the party’s directive reportedly led to some long-standing members writing resignation letters last week, but a Cabinet minister has told The Echo those members needed to read the party’s rules.

Further and Higher Education Minister Patrick O’Donovan said anybody joining Fine Gael subscribed to the constitution and rules of the party.

“And the constitution and rules make it very clear that at selection conventions the Fine Gael national executive has the right to issue directives that pertain to geography and can give directives that some people might say [are] unfair but that the party would view as strategic,” he said.

“When you sign up to the rules of a club, you play by the rules of the club.

“If people have a difficulty with the rules, rather than throwing their hands up and throwing their membership card back at the party, there’s a forum to change the rules, it’s called the Fine Gael Árd Fheis.”

If party members in Cork South Central did not like what the Fine Gael national executive had done, Mr O’Donovan said, they could do one of two things.

“They can either stand for the national executive election themselves, which I doubt if any of those people have ever done, or they can propose amendments to the constitution and rules that [would] remove the right of the Fine Gael national executive to do what the Fine Gael national executive did last week, which was to think strategically about the constituency,” he said.

“And if people don’t like that, any GAA club, any soccer club, any football club, has a rules book and the first thing that people who get the hump should do is read the rules.”

Fine Gael party headquarters was asked for comment.