Paul Kehoe
IT’S NOT yet known where the soon-to-be-departed TDs and senators of Fine Gael will next surface, like some buccaneering wild geese marauding through board rooms and the professions or even the PR firms that fight so valiantly for the rights of tobacco companies and other philanthropic entities. But we do know that of the 35 party Dáil deputies elected in 2020, eight have already declared that they will not be running again, one more has also very recently told his comrades that he will be retiring and another is on the verge of exiting depending on whether or not he can find a parachute.
Those Fine Gael TDs who have already stated publicly their intention to leave politics are Richard Bruton, Michael Creed, Charlie Flanagan, Brendan Griffin, Joe McHugh, Fergus O’Dowd, John Paul Phelan and David Stanton.
To that list can be added the name of Joe Carey, a Clare TD for 17 uninterrupted years and whose father was a TD, senator and junior minister before him. Joe has suffered from ill health although he is only 48 years old and he recently told colleagues that his health would not allow him to stand again for election.
Also in serious doubt is the political future of Paul Kehoe, former defence minister and government chief whip. Kehoe became irked with colleagues at a party meeting a year ago, accusing them of leaking names of party TDs who were unlikely to stand at the next general election. The indignant Kehoe told the meeting that he intended to run at the next election but there is now a big question mark over that intention.
Fergus O’Dowd
For starters, the Boundary Commission Report mangled the Wexford constituency and put his seat in serious jeopardy, while FG’s declining popularity and Kehoe’s own difficulties in retaining his seat at the last two elections make his seat especially vulnerable.
As well, following party MEP Deirdre Clune’s announcement last November that she would not stand for Europe again, Kehoe jumped very quickly – within a matter of days – to reveal his own interest in succeeding her in the European Parliament.
This hastily declared ambition is now in doubt also as the current mantra in FG electoral circles is that women candidates are almost compulsory and, even though the 40% gender quota is not mandatory at EU elections, replacing Ms Clune with Mr Kehoe would not be a good look.
Quite how FG will handle this quandary in Wexford and in the EU constituency of Ireland South is unclear. But already there are fears that if Fianna Fáil’s Malcolm Byrne runs again for Europe and with Mick Wallace a cert to do so, Kehoe’s Wexford base will not be entirely unaffected. And given his public statements in the last 12 months – complaints about leaks of political retirements, his declared intention to stand for the Dáil again and his statement of a real interest in standing for Europe – his options are rather circumscribed as squeaky bum time looms.
