LAST UPDATE | 13 Oct

EX-FINE GAEL TD Kate O’Connell will stand as an Independent in the general election after missing out on selection for the party.

The decision to go it alone came as Fine Gael completed its ticket for Dublin Bay South – selecting a city councillor over the former Dáil deputy.

Emma Blain was added to the Dublin Bay South ticket alongside Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghegan following a meeting of Fine Gael’s Executive Council yesterday.

O’Connell claimed that she made the decision partly due to anger at the “wastage” of public money as featured in recent controversies.

“I want to win a seat and I believe looking at the lie of the land the best way to do that — and to be true to my values and my principles, the value and principles that I hold dear — is to run Independent,” she told the Sunday Independent.

She was previously elected as TD for Dublin Bay South in 2016 before losing the seat four years later.

O’Connell’s decision is a big turnaround from April when she greeted Simon Harris becoming Taoiseach as a “rebirth” and a chance to “restart” matters in Fine Gael.

At the Fine Gael Ard Fheis in Galway that same month, she posed for photos with Harris upon his arrival, while party members told O’Connell it was “good to have her back” in the fold.

However, she told the Sunday Independent that while some party members were positive about her returning as a candidate, she still found a “fair degree of residual animosity” towards her.

During the Fine Gael leadership contest in 2017, O’Connell sparked controversy when she described Varadkar’s backers as “choirboys” who were “singing for their supper”.

O’Connell had supported Minister Simon Coveney in the race. O’Connell, who is a pharmacist, lost her seat in 2020.

She was not supported by the Fine Gael national executive for a Seanad seat after losing her seat as a TD. She was also not selected to run in the Dublin-Bay South by-election when Eoghan Murphy stepped down.

Fine Gael response

Justice Minister and Fine Gael TD Helen McEntee defended accusations on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics that the party brand was failing to attract candidates, saying the party had “chosen not to run her”, meaning O’Connell.

She said it’s “often the case that many candidates and people are engaged with” by the party and that it’s not unusual if some aren’t successful.

“Kate O’Connell was engaged with the party, and the party chose in the last week not to run her,” the senior Fine Gael TD said.

“She wasn’t selected, she wasn’t chosen by the party. I wish her well. We have a fantastic candidate there who is now going to take her place,” McEntee added.

The minister said was confident that O’Connell standing as an Independent won’t harm the party’s chances of getting two TDs in the constituency, saying it had a “fantastic ticket” in Geoghegan and Blain.

Fine Gael has now chosen 69 General Election candidates in 41 constituencies – for more on how all the parties are shaping up for the coming election read on here.