Rebel TDs reject olive branch to return to FG fold

Rebel Fine Gael TDs have rejected an olive branch from former colleagues who said they would be allowed back into the party fold if they support the Government in future Dáil votes, including the budget.

Lucinda Creighton, the leading member of the Reform Alliance — a new parliamentary group of five TDs who lost the whip over their opposition to legislation on abortion — said they will vote as individuals on each piece of legislation.

“It’s kind of funny that we are being told we should vote as though we are whipped when the whip has been removed,” she said. “We have none of the benefits or the rights of whipped TDs, yet we are being required to behave as the party want us to.”