AVERIL POWER HAS launched another stinging attack on Fianna Fáil in the wake of the party’s reaction to her sudden resignation last month.
The newly independent senator has described Fianna Fáil’s response to her departure as “nasty and disingenuous” in an op-ed for the Northside People.
She has once again lashed out at its approach to the same-sex marriage referendum campaign and insisted she left the party because she has “lost all faith in Fianna Fáil and [doesn't] believe it is fit for government”.
Power said: “In a blatant act of cute-hoorism of the worst kind, the party was both for and against the referendum at the same time.”
Fianna Fáil’s approach to the referendum symbolised everything that is wrong with the party.
She said that despite same-sex marriage having been official Fianna Fáil policy since it was passed by members in 2012, many TDs and Senators refused to campaign for it.
Power said the party is afraid to take clear positions in debates for fear of losing support and said that most of her former colleagues prefer not to take a stance on issues.
Most of the party’s representatives prefer to sit on the fence and see which way the wind blows.
In the same piece, Power said that the characterisation of her resignation as being the result of a constituency squabble was baseless. She insisted Fianna Fáil had been briefing that they expected her to win a Dáil seat in Dublin Bay North.
“Even constituency rivals Sean Haughey and Deirdre Heaney have stated on radio that they understood I would be a candidate,” she said.
Power said her decision to quit the party exactly a fortnight ago was neither rash nor hasty but was the result of her unhappiness for sometime, something she claimed party leader Micheál Martin had been aware of.
She said she hasn’t made any decision on whether or not to run as an independent in the next general election. An ad in the same paper last week prompted speculation that Power would contest Dublin Bay North next time out.
In the same paper, local Fianna Fail councillor Tom Brabazon accused Power of being “politically motivated” in her resignation, saying she would not have made it through the party’s selection convention had she run.
Brabazon, who will contest the Dublin Bay North convention, described Power’s claim that Fianna Fáil is not fit for government as “contemptible”.
Fianna Fáil declined to comment.
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