FG councillor quits party on losing whip

THE FINE Gael Senator Therese Ridge who was criticised in the Mahon report has said she is resigning from the party because she could see “little point” in appealing her loss of the party whip.

The tribunal described payments to Ms Ridge, currently a local councillor in Clondalkin, as “entirely improper”.

She was on Dublin County Council when Frank Dunlop was lobbying for the rezoning of land at Quarryvale and supported the development. She received £1,000 from Mr Dunlop.

In May, an internal Fine Gael disciplinary committee removed the party whip from Ms Ridge and called on her to resign within a week from all committees associated with her role as a public representative.

She was given 30 days to appeal the ruling. Ms Ridge said she had done so on May 15th, but she wrote to the party yesterday to say she was dropping the appeal.

She cited a newspaper article quoting Taoiseach Enda Kenny as saying he accepted the disciplinary findings. She claimed the prospect of “fair procedures” had been removed once the party leader publicly accepted the findings. “I see little point in proceeding with such an appeal because clearly no fair procedures could apply in such a case,” she said.

Fine Gael general secretary Tom Curran said: “We note her resignation.” Dublin South TD Olivia Mitchell, who, the tribunal said inappropriately accepted an unsolicited £500 contribution from Mr Dunlop in 1992, was exonerated by the party committee.