Fine Gael TD says politicians face ‘vindictiveness’ from public

Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan, who has confirmed he will not contest the next general election, has complained of the growing level of “vindictiveness” politicians face from the public.

One of his party colleagues described the level of vitriol directed against Mr Feighan at the height of the controversy over ending the round-the- clock emergency department at Roscommon County Hospital as like something out of Mississippi Burning. The Roscommon-South Leitrim TD did not dispute the description. "It was, it was a bit mad," he said.

He said protest marches took place outside his office, although his mother was living upstairs. He “genuinely” did not feel comfortable returning to his own home at night. He was called “traitor, coward and liar” in public. Threats came through Twitter, Facebook, email and by post.

Mourners refused to shake his hand at funerals. He stayed away from pubs after a man made a lunge for him after grabbing a microphone and shouting, “Frank Feighan’s here and he’s after murdering people”.

“There is a race to the bottom in vindictiveness, in lack of generosity. I know it’s a tough game, but people were hurting and I think the recession brought on that kind of nastiness – I’m trying to get the right word – a less democratic approach to politics. There was a kind of mob mentality and everyone got in on it, the GAA, the church, priests going up on the altar.”

One of Mr Feighan’s main political rivals throughout the controversy was Independent TD turned MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan. “Luke brought a new nastiness to politics. Whatever it took, that’s his modus operandi and I think a lot of people have followed that modus operandi.

“There seems to be now a new dispensation that if there’s a problem, go on the local radio, go on the papers or go whatever, but don’t deal with the situation. It was like the herd mentality – and it’s a word I don’t mind using. There was a frenzy and I became the fall guy for the situation, and you do remember the few people that would say hello.”He said political promises had been made that should not have been made. Fine Gael had pledged during the 2011 general election that services at the hospital would not be reduced. In July 2011, Mr Feighan told the Dáil he was “sincerely sorry” he would not be able to stand by his pre-election promise to safeguard services at the hospital. Unlike his colleague, Denis Naughten, now an Independent TD, Mr Feighan voted with the Government on a motion relating to the downgrading of the hospital.

He said he had a “charmed” existence before the hospital controversy. He was a political activist, had businesses employing local people and was popular. “And people said, ‘Frankie, why don’t you go for politics?’ It took a huge adjusting to a new reality, you’d gone from being quite popular, being elected by your peers, to keeping the head down.”