FG deputy apologises for Nally remarks

FINE Gael chief whip Paul Kehoe has apologised to party leader Enda Kenny for saying he would have acted in exactly the same way as the Mayo farmer who killed an intruder.

Mr Kehoe, a TD for Wexford, told a public meeting in Bunclody this week that Padraig Nally had been right to shoot John Ward, a Traveller who had intruded on his farm.

“Let me say, he was a victim, and if I was Padraig Nally, I think I would have done exactly the very same thing as well,” he said.

However, Mr Kenny was said to be incandescent with rage over the comments. He summoned Mr Kehoe to his office on Wednesday night and severely admonished him for his comments.

A Fine Gael spokesman said yesterday that Mr Kehoe accepted that his comments were inappropriate, did not reflect party policy, and that he had agreed to withdraw them.

The party has drawn a lot of criticism in the past fortnight for its call for changes in the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

Mr Kenny has said that it should be amended to tilt the balance in favour of citizens protecting their families and their homes.

However, while the party insists that its proposals are not connected with the Nally case, it has struggled to defend itself against criticisms that they are. Mr Kenny first suggested the change on the day that Mr Nally was charged on March 24. In addition, an opinion article written by Mr Kenny for the Irish Mirror last week seemed to link the move to the Nally case. However, Fine Gael said that that stemmed solely from the presentation of the article by the Mirror.

The party has gone to some lengths in recent days to distance its legislative campaign from the Nally case.

Sources said that this was the reason behind Mr Kenny’s annoyance over Mr Kehoe’s remarks.

Fine Gael intends to bring forward a bill in the near future to bolster and define the rights to defend one’s property and person.