Ó Cuív accuses FF leadership of trying to force him out

FORMER FIANNA Fáil deputy leader Éamon O Cuív has accused the party leadership of attempting to force him out of the party.

An infuriated Mr O Cuív told The Irish Times last night that a letter he received from Fianna Fáil whip, Seán Ó Fearghail had left him with a stark choice.

The Galway West TD and former government minister said he had a “monumental decision” to make by today about whether to remain in the party.

Mr Ó Cuív said the letter he had received from the party whip had a clear implication that he would have to leave the party if he did not accept its contents.

Mr Ó Cuív rejected the claim by party sources that he had not been presented with a stark choice by Mr Ó Fearghail.

He quoted from the letter sent to him by the party whip as saying: “Each of us signed a pledge when we accepted the Fianna Fáil nomination in the last election and we agreed to clear and long-established parliamentary party rules about respecting party policy.

“It is not feasible for individual party members to campaign as they wish, irrespective of the parliamentary party’s formally adopted position.”

The letter also said the party leader accepted Mr Ó Cuív had not planned to campaign publicly against the treaty, but “any media exposure advancing a No vote between now and the referendum” could not be accepted.

“There is nothing in the party rules or history which would allow a senior member to participate in a campaign against the party’s agreed policy,” the letter added.

Mr Ó Cuív said that “the idea the party can now pretend they haven’t put a very stark choice to me defies any reading of that letter”.

He added that every word of the letter was carefully chosen and it was very clear that it was “totally untenable for me to carry on”.

Nonetheless, Mr O Cuív said he had not made up his mind about whether he would leave the party but would decide today “sometime in the pm”.

Fianna Fáil sources pointed to the fact that the letter was sent to Mr Ó Cuív at his own request following discussions with Mr Ó Fearghail on Friday and Saturday.

While they accepted that the letter reminded the TD about commitments he had made to adhere to party policy when he was selected as a Dáil candidate and to abide by the rules of the parliamentary party, they insisted that it did not refer to expulsion from the party. Mr O Cuív resigned as the party’s deputy leader in February when he announced that he could not support the Fianna Fáil position in favour of the treaty.

A grandson of Fianna Fáil founder Éamon de Valera, Mr Ó Cuív was born and raised in Dublin but moved to live and work in Connemara during the 1970s.

He was first elected to the Dáil for Galway West in 1992 and he was appointed as minister of State when Fianna Fáil took power in 1997.

He was promoted to the cabinet as minister for community, rural and Gaeltacht affairs by Bertie Ahern in 2002 despite his public disclosure that he had voted against the Nice treaty in 2001 which was defeated despite the support of the then government parties. He also voted against entry into the EEC in 1972