{"id":144375,"date":"2025-10-25T09:26:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T09:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/144375\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T09:26:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T09:26:11","slug":"mep-sean-kelly-criticises-fine-gaels-selection-process-for-presidential-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/144375\/","title":{"rendered":"MEP Sean Kelly criticises Fine Gael’s selection process for presidential candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Recriminations have begun in Fine Gael over the presidential election campaign even before ballots have been counted, as MEP Sean Kelly criticised the process which saw Heather Humphreys selected as a candidate.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mr Kelly said the campaign got off to a \u201cbad start\u201d, adding that it was a mistake not to allow a contest to take place between himself and Ms Humphreys.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think most people would have welcomed a contest and then whoever would win would go forward and we\u2019d all unite behind them,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Polling has shown Independent candidate Catherine Connolly is in line to become the 10th President, as Ms Humphreys trails behind.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mr Kelly had sought the nomination earlier this year, after Mairead McGuinness dropped out of the race, but was unable to secure enough support from the Fine Gael parliamentary party to force a contest.\n <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The party required prospective candidates to receive the endorsement of 20 Fine Gael TDs or Senators, 25 councillors, and five members of its Executive Council.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mr Kelly said he was able to get the backing of councillors and the executive council, but the parliamentary party mostly opted to back Ms Humphreys.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI had no problem with the National Executive, I had no problem with the councillors in fairness,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe vast majority, certainly in Ireland South, were 100% behind me, but for some reason or another the parliamentary party seemed to close ranks around Heather Humphreys and they thought that was the best way to approach things.\n <\/p>\n

\n

I was unfortunately the victim but I have to get on with it and that\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\n The Fine Gael MEP said he was \u201csurprised\u201d that he didn\u2019t have more support within the parliamentary party, having been elected since 2009.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut, you know, that\u2019s politics. I\u2019m not going to let it worry me too much, but from a political point of view its certainly disappointing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He said there would have been \u201clearning\u201d had hustings taken place between Mr Kelly and Ms Humphreys.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mr Kelly said the party should reconsider the process it uses to select its presidential candidates going forward.\n <\/p>\n

\n

I think a lot of people would say it mightn\u2019t be the best way going forward, so that\u2019s something for the future.<\/p>\n

\n However, one source in Fine Gael rejected Mr Kelly\u2019s assertions there was no contest.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere was a contest, Sean lost it by quite a margin,\u201d they said.\n <\/p>\n

\n While Mr Kelly criticised the party for the process, he praised Ms Humphreys for her campaign.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cShe was in a difficult position but she put in a great effort and she\u2019s a nice lady and I hope she does well. She can\u2019t be blamed,\u201d Mr Kelly said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recriminations have begun in Fine Gael over the presidential election campaign even before ballots have been counted, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,59,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-144375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-presidential-election","22":"tag-top-stories","23":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115434093747056604","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}