McGrath: A very sad day for Fianna Fáil

The removal of the long-serving MEP Brian Crowley from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party was described as "a very sad day for Fianna Fáil" and a "terrible turn of events" by its finance spokesman, Michael McGrath.

“It has left many of us scratching our heads wondering where this has come from and precisely why he now finds himself outside the parliamentary party. It’s a difficult one to get heads around,” he said.

The Cork-South Central TD was one of a number of people who argued that Mr Crowley should have been given the chance to defend himself before a decision was taken to leave him outside the fold.

Last night Mr McGrath said there was “no formal decision” to remove him before a “vague” press statement was released.

It said that Mr Crowley had “removed himself” from the parliamentary party due to his “unilateral decision” to join a European parliament group led by British Tory MEPs.

“I think it’s a very sad day for Fianna Fáil and Brian Crowley,” said Mr McGrath, who accepted that the views of the new group were not compatible with those of the party. “He had been an outstanding public servant for our party for 20 years and it really is quite a bizarre turn of events.”

He said: “I don’t think anybody would have predicted what happened, I’m deeply saddened by the turn of events, that we have lost someone of Brian’s stature and left without a person in the European Parliament.”

Mr Crowley, who got more than 180,000 first preference votes in last month’s elections, made the decision to switch groupings in the interest of “serving his constituents” according to his close associate, Kerry-based Senator, Mark Daly. “What he heard on the ground when we were going around Ireland South was that people were upset with the way Europe was going, the direction it was taking and how so many policies are being centralised with in Brussels,” he said.

Mr Daly said Mr Crowley was the only MEP elected for Fianna Fáil and had a “huge mandate” and therefore should be listened to by the party leadership.

Mr Crowley, who is currently in hospital, was unavailable to comment yesterday.

But Mr Daly said that, with his 20 years of serving constituents he “has the view that the grouping he is now in would be able to support the constituents of Ireland South”.

The group was described by Mr Martin as having “far-right views” and “at its core is anti-European Union”. He said the group, which also includes members from the True Finns party, is “not in any shape or form compatible with our republican views”.

The Wexford TD, John Browne also defended Mr Crowley, saying: “I voiced my opinion that maybe he should be allowed to address the parliamentary party first. But the majority view did not agree with that and they felt, by his actions, he removed the whip from himself and that he did not have any entitlement to address the parliamentary party, and obviously that’s what won the day.”