Fine Gael will learn lessons of election failure, says chief whip

FINE GAEL will learn its lessons from Gay Mitchell’s abysmal showing in the presidential election, Government chief whip Paul Kehoe has pledged.

But several Fine Gael TDs, speaking anonymously to the Irish Examiner, said the defeat of the Oireachtas inquiries referendum was a bigger “wake-up call” for the party.

One TD singled out Justice Minister Alan Shatter for criticism, saying he had been too “arrogant” in his dismissal of concerns raised about the referendum by eight former attorneys general.