IN THE EARLY hours of this morning, John McGahon’s general election campaign officially came to an end when he was eliminated from the running in the Louth constituency on the 18th count.
His supposed running mate within Fine Gael, Paula Butterly, was elected on the 20th count.
Some of Butterly’s election posters stated: “Vote No 1 Paula Butterly and Vote No 2 John McGahon”.
However, as media scrutiny over McGahon’s candidacy intensified, Butterly revealed that she had not been telling constituents to give their second preference vote to McGahon.
Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris also appeared to struggle to handle the situation during the election campaign.
He backed McGahon’s candidacy but as the campaign wore on, Harris said he was “not sure” if he would canvass with McGahon in Louth.
So why was Fine Gael willing to put their weight behind McGahon’s campaign?
Behind the scenes, it’s understood that while some within Fine Gael highlighted that McGahon’s candidacy might pose a problem, the party put its head in the sand on the issue.
In 2018, McGahon was involved in an altercation with farmer Breen White outside a pub in Dundalk.
Although he was acquitted in a 2022 criminal trial of assault causing harm, McGahon was ordered this summer by the High Court to pay White €39,000 after the Castleblayney man sued the senator for assault and battery.
In July, the jury apportioned blame at 65% against McGahon and the other 35% against Breen White.
McGahon was elected to the Seanad in 2020 to serve on the Cultural and Educational Panel, two years after the assault, and in September he was selected to represent Fine Gael in the general election in the Louth constituency, with Butterly also on the ticket.
The issue then became a front-page story on 17 November when photos were printed in The Sunday Times of the injuries sustained by Breen White in the assault.
However, it’s believed that the party was aware of these images and still did not raise the flag that this could be something that would cause them trouble in the middle of an election.
And while she is no longer a public figure, Olwyn Enright, the former Laois-Offaly TD and current National Director of Organisation for Fine Gael, who was the party’s director of elections, can really only answer the questions about what went on in the background on these decisions.
Meanwhile, perhaps the party stood by McGahon as he is viewed as being part of a Dundalk ‘dynasty’.
McGahon’s uncle, Brendan McGahon, was a Fine Gael TD for the area from 1982 until 2002 and died in 2017 at the age of 80.
However, when The Journal took to the streets of Dundalk to find out how people felt about McGahon’s general election bid, one person took issue with people who say McGahon comes from a Fine Gael “dynasty”.
“People call it a dynasty about Dundalk, but there’s only the two of them (the late Brendan and John) and nobody heard about John before the assault case and then he’s up for elections.”
McGahon got 4,021 first preference votes in Friday’s election and was outpolled by running mate Paula Butterly.
Shortly after the civil case decision in July, Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said he was happy for McGahon to seek a nomination for the general election.
While Harris said at the time that the incident “wasn’t acceptable”, he added: “I am satisfied that he is remorseful.
“I’m also satisfied that he’s given me an assurance that such an action will never happen again.
“I also have to be conscious of the fact that this is something that happened prior to his time in office.
“It’s also something that he was found not guilty of in a criminal court in a jury of his peers. So yes, I’m happy for him to seek the nomination,” said Harris.
He added: “There was clearly an incident, a scuffle, and he shouldn’t have put himself in that scenario. It was not assault as it was deemed by a criminal court not to be.”
Harris’s now infamous remark about the incident being a “scuffle” would later come back to haunt him when video footage of the asaault emerged online.
The real turning point in the controversy was when Breen White, who was assaulted by McGahon, gave an interview to The Sunday Times about the incident and revealed photos of the injuries he sustained.
That interview was published on 17 November, and was the beginning of what McGahon has since described as a “tough two weeks”.
Speaking on 17 November, Harris said he would “continue to canvass” for McGahon and repeated a line that he would continually return to, that McGahon was acquitted by a jury in a criminal case.
Meanwhile, Breen White had told The Sunday Times that he was “really disappointed” that Harris had labelled the incident a “scuffle” and this was something that the Fine Gael leader walked back after a video of the incident was widely shared on social media.
During a ten-person leaders’ debate on RTÉ on 18 November, that video was the first topic on the agenda and Harris revealed he had not seen the footage before it circulated online.
Harris said he would not have used the word “scuffle” to describe the incident had he first seen this footage.
When asked by host Katie Hannon if he backed McGahon without seeing the evidence, Harris replied that he “backed him on the basis of what had happened in a court”.
When it was put to Harris that McGahon had been found 65% liable in the civil case and ordered to pay €39,000 in damages, Harris replied: “He was rightly punished in relation to having to pay that fine. And that is appropriate.
“He is a democratically selected candidate, and he has not been convicted of a criminal charge.”
However, just one day later on 19 November, Harris told reporters that he had “no idea” if he would be canvassing with McGahon.
And then on the eve of the election, two days before polling, Harris told reporters he was “not sure” if he would canvass with McGahon were he to make a visit to Louth.
Harris also reminded voters that Paula Butterly was on the ticket.
He told reporters in Meath: “He’s on the ticket, as is councillor Paula Butterly, and it’s up to the people of Louth to decide, if they wish to vote Fine Gael, which candidate to support.”
For his part, McGahon said he received “150% support” from Simon Harris and from Fine Gael as a whole.
This is despite Harris saying he was “not sure” if he would canvass with McGahon and his running mate Paula Butterly revealing that she was not telling voters to give McGahon their second preference.
Fine Gael’s John McGahon acknowledges it won’t be his day in the Louth constituency and congratulates running mate Paula Butterly, who he predicts will be elected.
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) December 1, 2024
Adds that it’s the media’s job to scrutinise politicians and says he felt supported by the party. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/XdI8q1KRaa
“I had 150% support, from Fine Gael headquarters, from the Taoiseach, from the party here in Co Louth, and that really meant a lot,” McGahon told The Journal yesterday from the Louth election count, before thanking the people of Dundalk for their “kindness and support.
-With additional reporting from Christina Finn
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