Renua’s newest candidate recently considered joining Sinn Féin
At his Carlow-Kilkenny by-election campaign launch yesterday ex-Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick McKee, 26, said a January meeting with a Sinn Féin member where he allegedly sounded out the party on a move was “just coffee”.
The vice-chair of Kilkenny county council was elected as a Fianna Fáil candidate during last May’s local elections, before leaving in recent days — and after the party had chosen Bobby Aylward as its candidate —to sign-up with Renua Ireland.
In a statement after the launch took place Sinn Féin councillor Kathleen Funchion, a candidate for the same by-election race, said she met Mr McKee on February 7, at which point the new Renua Ireland candidate “clearly expressed his interest in joining Sinn Féin”.
Ms Funchion said while “we never chased him up” and “he never formally applied to join” after the initial discussion, she said the then Fianna Fáil candidate made it clear he was open to joining Sinn Féin.
However, when asked about the allegation yesterday, the now Renua Ireland candidate said he never had any intention of signing up to Ms Funchion’s party, saying the meeting was “just coffee”. “It was coffee a number of months ago. I spoke about my disillusionment in Fianna Fáil, but there was no agreement about joining Sinn Féin because it was never an option for me,” he said.
A number of high-profile Fianna Fáil members including finance spokesperson Michael McGrath, public expenditure and reform spokesperson Sean Fleming and transport spokesperson Timmy Dooley criticised Mr McKee’s departure.
While saying they wished him well, the senior opposition party members said his decision to join Renua Ireland was due to short-term personal “opportunity”.
Mr McKee said he was “not surprised” to hear the comments, but said he was joining Renua Ireland because it has the “same principles I’m committed to”.
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