Chief Whip Kehoe: No rift in Fine Gael

The Government's Chief Whip and Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe has denied that there is a rift within the party following Fine Gael's poor performance in the Presidential election and the Dublin West by-election.

He acknowledged that the 6.4% Mitchell vote was an "extreme disappointment", but stopped short of stating that Gay Mitchell was the wrong candidate to run.

When asked whether he thought Mr Mitchell was wrong to snub Michael D Higgins' formal declaration of the Presidency on Saturday, Deputy Kehoe said it was a matter of personal choice - but that he would himself have made a different one.

"If I had been in Gay's shoes, I would have turned up…but that was Gay's personal view on what he wanted to do," he said.

Deputy Kehoe said there was "no crisis within Fine Gael, nor within the Government".