Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly has claimed he was “shafted” by his party when colleagues in Leinster House declined to back him to run for the presidential election.
Mr Kelly claimed that Heather Humphreys, who went on to lose to a Catherine Connolly landslide last weekend, had been “anointed” as the candidate.
“I don’t go into contests just to make up the numbers. I think I’d have had a great chance of winning,” he told RTÉ’s News at One on Monday.
“I know from the councillors’ response, I got a great response from them and the national executive, and from the membership.
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“I think that from the point of view of not getting a nomination, you’d have to ask yourself, why was there such a determined effort to stop me from getting a nomination? Maybe because I would win it, and that’s the way I would have been approaching it.
“But it didn’t happen, so I’m going to get on with my life, I’m not going to let it upset me too much. It’s an honour to be considered as one of, as they all said, two great candidates, but one was anointed and the other was shafted, essentially.”
Mr Kelly said there was a feeling of “utter depression” within the party, after its underwhelming performance in this year’s presidential election. Ms Humphreys came second with 29.5 per cent of the vote. That has been praised by party leadership as a result that went beyond Fine Gael’s roughly 18 per cent support.
However, others in the party point out that this is a poor result in what was effectively a two-horse race, after former Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin pulled out.
“Every phone call, message and text I got was one of utter depression, quite frankly. In particular, I think they were quite disappointed with the way the nomination process was handled,” Mr Kelly said.
“Everybody knew that I was going to be a candidate. Within an hour of declaring that I was a candidate, Heather Humphreys declared that she was a candidate, and within an hour of that, basically it was all over.
“Nearly all the members of the parliamentary party came out saying they were going for Heather, which meant that I couldn’t get the 20 required to be nominated, and meant that the councillors and the members of the party couldn’t have a vote on who they wanted to be their candidate.”
Mr Kelly said that there was a sense of disconnect between the Fine Gael party leadership and its membership.
His comments come as a former Fine Gael TD and senator said he felt the party had made a “cardinal mistake” in selecting Ms Humphreys.
Michael Finucane held a Dáil seat for the party in west Co Limerick at general elections across 1989, 1992, 1997, and served in the Seanad from 2002-2007.
Mr Finucane said he felt Mr Kelly “didn’t get a chance”.
“They didn’t seem to recognise that he contested the European elections last year, and he got close on 130,000 votes – So, he proved he was a vote getter,” Mr Finucane said.
“Seán Kelly is fluent in Irish, and I believe that the party made a cardinal mistake in their nomination,” he added.
Mr Finucane said he had “anticipated” a tough election for Ms Humphreys following the pre-election polls putting Connolly well ahead, but, he said, out of loyalty to Fine Gael “I canvassed for the party and I campaigned for Heather Humphreys, and I’m bitterly disappointed”.
