Burke says he was not consulted over Sean Kelly running in elections

FINE GAEL MEP Colm Burke says he was not consulted by party headquarters in the lead-up to the announcement that former GAA president Sean Kelly would run in next year’s European elections.

But the party has disputed that account, and said Mr Burke was free to “start a row” if he wanted to.

After months of speculation, Mr Kelly finally confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that he would seek a Fine Gael nomination to run in Ireland South [formerly Munster] in the elections, which are due to take place in the summer.

Mr Burke is Fine Gael’s sitting MEP in the constituency, and some within the party fear that running a dual ticket could split its vote and leave it without a seat in Ireland South. But FG headquarters was understood to be eager to run Mr Kelly because of its belief that he had a higher profile than Mr Burke and stood a better chance of holding the seat for the party.

At his press conference, Mr Kelly said he had spoken to Mr Burke a couple of times recently.

But Mr Burke said yesterday that Mr Kelly had not mentioned anything to him about seeking a nomination in Ireland South.

And the MEP said his party had similarly failed to consult him on the issue in the lead-up to the announcement. “There was no contact with me by anyone [in headquarters] prior to or after the national conference,” Mr Burke said.

The only prominent Fine Gael figure to contact Mr Burke about the issue was Kerry North TD Jimmy Deenihan, who had asked Mr Kelly to run.

Mr Burke praised Mr Deenihan for this and paid tribute to his abilities as a politician. He also said he had “no problem” with Mr Kelly running, but wished to clarify that he had not been consulted.

But a spokesman for party headquarters disputed this, saying: “If Colm wants to start a row, he can, but that’s just not the case.”

There had been “multiple contacts” with Mr Burke on the issue, the spokesman said.

In the previous day’s statement welcoming Mr Kelly’s decision to run, party leader Enda Kenny made no reference to Mr Burke.

Instead, he opined that Mr Kelly was a man with “tremendous ability and experience“, and said he was “delighted that a person with his profile has decided to offer to run for FG”.

Meanwhile, Mr Burke has announced that Cork senator Jerry Buttimer will lead his election campaign team.