Paschal Donohoe: Verona Murphy's views are 'contrary' to the party's

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has defended Fine Gael’s handling of the deselection of the party’s candidate in the recent byelection in Wexford.

Mr Donohoe said Verona Murphy was deselected as a general election candidate for the party as her views on society were not consistent with the tone and values at the heart of the party.

"No one individual or one candidate is bigger than the party and that moderation and inclusivity are values Fine Gael supports and are contrary to the views expressed by Ms Murphy," he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

He said that the party had continued to support her campaign after she apologised for earlier comments about asylum seekers.

Mr Donohoe said Ms Murphy had many formidable qualities and acknowledged that when entering politics it can be challenging handling media scrutiny.

However, towards the end of the byelection campaign he had begun to wonder about her apology and what her views were.

The Minister said that following her deselection, Ms Murphy stood by her earlier opinions and he too would do likewise about the decision to deselect her.

When asked about the case of another Fine Gael candidate who will no longer be standing for the party in the general election, Maria Bailey, Mr Donohoe said that Ms Bailey had lost the support of her local party colleagues in Dún Laoghaire so she could no longer run for Fine Gael.

In the case of a third candidate, Alan Farrell in Fingal, who had made a compensation claim in court seeking €15,000 and was eventually awarded €2,500, Mr Donohoe said that Mr Farrell had gone through the legal process and there had been a judgement and the matter had been concluded.

The Minister expressed concern about the actions of Dara Murphy, the Cork North Central TD who claimed his full parliamentary and travel allowances of €4,300 per month despite not having spoken in the Dáil for almost two years.

“It does appear that rules were not met. I do have a concern about the perception that this has created. The matter has to be inquired into.”

He said he was determined to deal with the issue as fairly and promptly as possible.