Sean Kelly says he was ‘shafted’ by Fine Gael candidate process

Sean Kelly said he feels as if he was “shafted” in Fine Gael’s process to pick a presidential candidate.

Mr Kelly sought the party’s nomination at the same time as eventual candidate Heather Humphreys after Fine Gael’s first pick, Mairead McGuinness, withdrew on health grounds.

However, Ms Humphreys was selected as the party’s candidate by the majority of the Fine Gael parliamentary party and he ultimately withdrew.

She would go on to secure less than half the vote of the eventual winner, left-wing independent Catherine Connolly.

Mr Kelly said on Monday that within the party there has been been “disappointment” and “utter depression” with the result.

“I think they were disappointed with the way the nomination process was handled.

“Everybody knew I was going to be candidate, and within an hour of I declaring I was a candidate, Heather Humphrey has declared she was a candidate.

“And within an hour of that, basically it was nearly all over as nearly all the members of parliamentary party came out, one after another, saying they were going for Heather.”

Mr Kelly said he was blocked by the parliamentary party from his potential candidacy going to councillors for a vote.

“I think I’d have had a great chance of winning.”

He added: “You have to ask yourself why was there such a determined effort to stop me from getting the nomination?

“You’d have to say, maybe because I would win it – and that’s the way I would have been approaching it.

“But it didn’t happen. So I’m going to get on with my life and I’m not going to let it upset me too much.

“As they all said ‘two great candidates’, but one was anointed and the other was shafted, essentially.”

Asked if he was blocked by the party leadership, Mr Kelly said: “That’ll all come out in the wash.

“I was blocked certainly by the parliamentary party, no doubt about that.

“On Saturday and Sunday, there were members of parliamentary party getting on to me, saying now is my chance.”

He added: “And when I got back to them on Tuesday, they said: ‘Sorry Sean, we can’t nominate you’. So certainly, I think that’s something that will be looked at and probably reflected on in due course.”

Asked if Simon Harris should continue as leader, Mr Kelly said: “He is the leader at the moment and he shall continue to be, I think, into the future.

“Obviously, the question of who leads the party is a matter for membership of the party and it’s a matter for Simon himself.

“But I think the key point here is that things weren’t handled as well as the membership would have liked, and it is time to reflect that, to say that, and then to respond accordingly by changing, maybe, approach.”