Members of the Fine Gael Executive Committee in Donegal are lobbying the party not to go into coalition government with Fianna Fail and the Green Party.
The party’s executive issued a statement last night in which he outlined its reasons why local members are against the move.
They said this is down to the local Fine Gael membership having strong concerns about how Green Party priorities could have a negative effect for particularly the rural Irish economy.
The statement, signed on behalf of the executive by chairperson Harold Doheny and secretary Aaron Sweeney, said it will seek to ask the ten constituency delegates to vote against Fine Gael entering sucha coalition.
It said “We do not believe entering into the proposed coalition would be of benefit to people here in Donegal. Particularly our farmers who are the backbone of our rural economy.
“We are also facing an economic outlook and the need to make a strong recovery due to the COVID 19 outbreak and because of this our members would be concerned about facilitating Fianna Fail’s return to government and their history of dealing with past economic crises.”
“These are just some of the many concerns relayed to us here in Donegal about entering this possible coalition deal and so we feel it necessary to vote against Fine Gael entering coalition with Fianna Fail and the Greens whenever the vote may be called.”
The statement added that the executive does however, welcome the massive level of engagement with their membership from the parliamentary party from the outset of this process.
The statement from Fine Gael in Donegal comes just weeks after Fianna Fail county councillors in Donegal wrote to party leader Micheál Martin warning the party will be “destroyed” in the next general election if it goes it coalition with Fine Gael and the Green Party.
The letter, which was signed by Fianna Fail party whip, Cllr Ciaran Brogan and Cllr Patrick McGowan, said grassroots members, the same people who collect for the party at church gate collections felt “used” because of the lack of consultation over the issue of any future Government.
However, the Fine Gael party in Donegal says this is not the case with their party locally.
“This does not seem to be the case with the other parties involved which is suggested in the response from Fianna Fail councillors here in Donegal and by the fact the Green Pany appears to be seeking a change of leadership in the middle of these discussions and so these issues would also cause us to have strong concern at the prospect of coalition.
“Our members had the opportunity to meet and discuss government formation at a meeting in Letterkenny prior to the introduction of restrictions. Since then our executive committee has held discussions amongst ourselves and our County Councillors.
“As well as this, a number of members from across Donegal also had the opportunity to discuss the process with Minister Paul Kehoe in which members relayed their ideas and concerns back to the Fine Gael reference group.
“Our chairperson has also had the opportunity to take part in meetings with both Minister Paschal Donoghue and An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. We have to say that Fine Gael has been strongly engaged with its membership in Donegal throughout this process.”
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