Crowley loses FF party whip over Euro defection

The long-serving Ireland South MEP, Brian Crowley, is no longer a member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party after the leadership said he "removed himself" by joining a group with far-right and eurosceptic views.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said it was a “step too far” by the poll-topper of 20 years to join the European Conservatives and Reformists with representatives who, he said, held views that were “racist, xenophobic, and homophobic in many respects”.

The decision was described as a “terrible turn of events” and a “sad day for the party” by Mr Martin’s constituency colleague and the party’s finance spokesman, Michael McGrath.