A MEETING of Fine Gael officials in Meath is expected to take place shortly to discuss the outcome of the party's controversial selection convention in the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton's constituency.
Sources in the party said last night they were deeply unhappy at the way the convention to select candidates for the general election was conducted last Sunday in Navan.
However, a spokesman for Mr Bruton said that what happened in Meath was "democracy at its best". Almost 950 members in the constituency were entitled to vote. Over 850 registered to vote and 845 cast their ballots, he added.
Mr Bruton, or his constituency office, would have canvassed well over 300 delegates. The spokesman described as "absurd" any suggestion that anybody other than the Taoiseach himself or staff in his constituency office made any calls canvassing support.
"It was a highly competitive situation where you had eight candidates vying for three nominations. The allegation of rigging is somewhere bizarre and incredible", the spokesman said.
But party sources were particularly critical of the way one of the prospective candidates, Mr Shane McEntee, tailed to win a nomination in spite of his high profile in the constituency. The convention, which was attended by over 840 delegates - the largest in years - selected Mr Bruton, Senator John Farrelly and a relatively unknown urban councillor, Mr James Holloway, to fight the election.
The chairman of Fine Gael in East Meath, Mr Tom Sullivan, told Louth/Meath local radio yesterday that local polls showed Mr McEntee would win up to 8,000 votes in a general election, yet he failed to secure a nomination.
He alleged that the convention was "something like one would get in eastern bloc countries".
Mr McEntee, a long time Fine Gael activist and brother of the Meath footballer, Dr Gerry McEntee, posed "a major threat" to Senator Farrelly and, for that reason, he was not selected as a candidate. Mr Farrelly topped the poll on Sunday, and 65 per cent of his surplus is understood to have gone to Mr Holloway.
Mr Sullivan claimed that people "all round the constituency were advised how to vote".