Last week, Fine Gael’s deputy leader James Reilly said he wanted Fine Gael to campaign on repealing the 8th Amendment, which gives equal legal weight to the lives of a mother and her unborn child.
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“Since my resignation, it is clear to see that the attack dogs within Fine Gael are out, trying to spin the reasons for my resignation into a negative context”.
“So I wonder what the great and powerful have in store next?”
“I believe it’s very important for me personally to be true to myself and go out there and represent the views of the people of Monaghan and Cavan from now on as an independent”, he said.
Fine Gael held off printing Sean Conlan’s General Election posters pending the outcome of a Garda investigation into an alleged assault involving the controversial TD.
He said he felt “limited” in what he could say about Eirgrid’s North South Interconnector pylon project as a member of Fine Gael.
In July 2013, Fine Gael ejected TD Lucinda Creighton, among others, for doing so.
The latest Ipsos/MRBI poll in today’s Irish Times shows support for the party has risen two percentage points since September to 30%. During his time as a student in UCD, he was a chairperson of Young Fine Gael.
The Fine Gale party responded by saying only that the party notes that Deputy Conlan had made a decision to resign from the Fine Gael party and they “wish him well for the future”.
“Fine Gael continues to have a strong team in Cavan/Monaghan with Minister Heather Humphreys and Joe O’Reilly TD”.
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“This matter was always going to be a part of the manifesto we’ll prepare for our own party”, he said.
