JOHN MCNULTY, FINE Gael’s controversial nominee for the Seanad by-election, appears as a board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) on the official ballot paper – despite resigning the position last week
McNulty resigned from the board of IMMA last Thursday, less than two weeks after he was appointed, saying the state board’s internal rules meant he could not serve on it and run for election at the same time.
The IMMA board membership remains on the ballot paper as the official list was completed last Monday, before McNulty resigned.
The Donegal-based shop manager’s appointment to the IMMA board and subsequent selection as Fine Gael’s candidate for the vacant seat on the Seanad’s Cultural and Educational Panel has been mired in controversy with allegations that Fine Gael pulled a ‘political stroke’.
McNulty is expected to win the by-election thanks to the government’s large Oireachtas majority – only TDs and Senators can vote in the by-election – though there are some suggestions that government deputies and senators could abstain or vote for another candidate because of the controversy.
Also in the running for the Seanad seat vacated by Deirdre Clune are independent Gerard Craughwell and Sinn Féin’s councillor Catherine Seeley.
The result in the by-election is expected on 10 October.
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