The aspiring presidential candidate, Mr Derek Nally, has decided to continue to seek a nomination from county councils for the forthcoming election. In a statement early today, he asked the Fianna Fail candidate, Prof Mary McAleese, if she stood over the ail party whip being used by local authorities to "disfranchise" him.
Mr Nally said he would like to know from the Taoiseach if Fianna Fail intended to impose a whip on other councils as had done last night, when the founder of the Irish Association for Victim Support indicated he was likely to withdraw after his failure to secure a nomination from Galway County Council.
The 13 Fianna Fail members of the council voted en bloc against a motion to nominate Mr Nally, with some Fine Gael and PD councillors voting in favour. Half of the 10 Fine Gael councillors did not turn up for the meeting, while two of those who did abstained.
Mr Nally said afterwards he was disappointed with the 13-10 vote against him. He regarded it as a "watershed" decision, as it indicated Fianna Fail would apply the whip to defeat his bid for a nomination when it came before other local authorities.
"I have to sit back and think again," he said. "My own gut feeling is that if the pattern is likely to be repeated then there wouldn't be much point continuing on." During an acrimonious debate on the motion, which was dominated by a procedural wrangle, Fine Gael and PD councillors accused Fianna Fail of duplicity over the nomination process.
Mr Tom Hussey (FF) said his party would oppose Mr Nally's nomination, or any other nomination, on the grounds that Fianna Fail had already chosen Ms McAleese as its candidate. Any other move could be considered as a vote of no confidence in Ms McAleese, he said. "We consider her the best person for the job and it would be foolish for us to support any other candidate."
Mr Joe Burke (PD) accused Fianna Fail of paying lip-service to the concept of democracy, by refusing to facilitate Mr Nally's access to the presidential race.