FIANNA FÁIL TD Éamon Ó Cuív has said he will seek legal advice if anybody moves to have him expelled from the parliamentary party because of his views on the European fiscal treaty.
Mr Ó Cuív, a former deputy leader of the party, said last night there was a precedent from previous referendums of Fianna Fáil TDs opposing the party line. He referred to Cork North Central TD Billy Kelleher’s public opposition to last autumn’s referendum on extending the power of parliamentary inquiries.
“That era of uno duce, una voce – Fianna Fáil members have moved on from that,” he said, in a reference to the well-known remark by PJ Mara about Charles Haughey’s style of leadership.
“If anybody tried to remove me from the parliamentary party I would have to take legal advice.
“You have to deal with things equally. If people can vote against the party in the Oireachtas and stay in the party, surely to God people can have their views,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív’s comments came after party leader Micheál Martin told a meeting of the party’s TDs and Senators yesterday that a situation where Mr Ó Cuív was openly campaigning for a No vote in the referendum on May 31st could not continue. Mr Ó Cuív, whose views on Sinn Féin also seems at odds with the leadership, was not at the meeting.
Fianna Fáil whip Seán Ó Fearghaíl was asked to meet Mr Ó Cuív to ascertain if he intended to campaign openly against the referendum.
Several senior party members confirmed that Mr Martin has taken the view that if he takes a very active role in the campaign, there would have to be consequences about his status in the parliamentary party.
“If he played a very active role in the No campaign and went on the media regularly and appeared on the same platform as ULA and Sinn Féin members, that would pose a real problem,” said a senior TD who was at the meeting.
“The subtext was that his views are known but there will be a problem if he ups the ante and starts campaigning actively against the party,” said another.
Party finance spokesman Michael McGrath said: “It’s inevitable there will be divergent views in the party. What we cannot have, though, is a parallel campaign by a prominent and serving member of the party.”
Asked what role he would play, Mr Ó Cuív said he would not campaign actively but if he was asked to go to a meeting, or appear on radio or television to give his own views, he would do so. It remains to be seen if that level of public engagement will satisfy the party leadership, which wants him to reduce his public appearances to a bare minimum.
Mr Ó Cuív met Mr Ó Fearghaíl yesterday afternoon for what he described as a “chat”. He said the conversation was mostly taken up by him contending that Fianna Fáil had made a “big mistake” in advocating a Yes vote. The pair are expected to meet again tomorrow.
