Ógra FF secretary quits in anti-gay row

THE Ógra Fianna Fáil branch secretary in Micheál Martin’s own constituency has left the party and joined David Norris’s presidential election bid over the “bigoted” anti-gay opinions of an ex-colleague.

In an open letter to the opposition leader, Una Lordan, Comhairle Dáil Cheantair secretary for Cork South Central and chair of the constituency’s Fianna Fáil youth wing, said she could not remain in the party because of UCC cumann chair Eoin Furlong’s remarks.

Mr Furlong was at the centre of a national controversy last month after saying the “lifestyles engaged by the majority of those who have homosexuality...” would be “detrimental” to children if they were allowed to adopt.

The recently elected UCC cumann head also described gay people in his blog as “prancing around half naked, sporting a tutu and sprinkling fairy dust”, before retracting the comments when contacted by the Irish Examiner.

However, despite the public apology, UCC student Ms Lordan, 23, said the original comments and other internal issues meant the views expressed by Fianna Fáil officials no longer represented “any party I would want be a member of”.

When contacted by the Irish Examiner, Ms Lordan said while she has no plans to seek membership with another party she is planning to join Mr Norris’s backroom presidential election campaign team.

“I have in recent weeks been disgusted at being falsely accused of ‘leaking’ the bigoted opinions of Eoin Furlong to the Irish media, because I believed after this happened his position within Fianna Fáil was no longer tenable,” Ms Lordan’s letter read.

“For a party that claims to represent the mainstream of Irish life, people like Eoin Furlong do not represent any party I would want be a member of.

“As a feminist I find it difficult to support a party with no female TDs at present and am not bought in by token gestures to put them in the Seanad.

“From my experience, women in Fianna Fáil are good for photo-shoots and little else,” she added.

The correspondence — which was also sent to the party’s general secretary Sean Dorgan, national youth officer Aidan O’Gorman, Cork South Central TD Michael McGrath, and Ógra Fianna Fáil vice-chair Joe O’Neill, among others — was heavily critical of various Fianna Fáil policies.

These include the “debacle” of the EU/IMF bailout, the handling of the election campaign and the attitude of some party members towards female candidates.