MEP jumps ship - Mandate betrayed

Last month Fianna Fáil’s Brian Crowley topped the poll in Ireland South with an incredible 180,000 votes.

He did that as an MEP aligned to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), but yesterday he left that grouping to join a Eurosceptic alliance led by Britain’s Conservative party. This group is a horse of an entirely different, less tolerant colour.

No matter how Mr Crowley, or Fianna Fáil, might try to spin this changing-horses-in-mid-stream move it is a betrayal of his liberally orientated mandate. It is also another blow to the authority of Micheál Martin who has opposed Mr Crowley’s decision to realign himself and, as Fianna Fáil’s only MEP, his party in Europe.

The EU is weakened by a huge democratic deficit and Mr Crowley’s self-serving decision will exacerbate that situation. Closer to home it seems another of the 1,000 cuts bringing Mr Martin’s leadership of Fianna Fáil into question. That may even be its purpose.