TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY intervened personally to try and have former Fine Gael minister Lucinda Creighton removed from her senior role with the party’s EU grouping, the EPP, it’s being claimed.
Creighton sent a resignation letter to party president Joseph Daul last week, a European People’s Party spokesperson confirmed to TheJournal.ie today.
It’s understood Enda Kenny personally asked party bosses to remove her from her role as EPP Vice-President following May’s local and European elections, and that pressure was stepped up in recent months.
A spokesperson for Fine Gael wouldn’t be drawn on the circumstances of Creighton quitting, but said that the fact she was no longer a member of the Government party would have been an issue for the EPP.
Creighton decided to hand in her resignation in order to save EPP officials from further embarrassment as a result of the row, a source close to the TD said.
Lucinda’s deleted profile page at the EPP website [EPP/Screengrab]
Creighton was elected to the EPP role in November of 2012, and was due to remain in the position until next year.
The Dublin South East deputy lost the Fine Gael whip and was forced to resign as Europe Minister after her decision to vote against the party last summer over the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act.
She has continued to attend meetings and summits in her EPP capacity since then.
The centre-right European People’s Party is the biggest grouping in the European Parliament. Its annual congress was held in Dublin earlier this year, with leading figures like German Chancellor Angela Merkel attending.
It’s expected another Fine Gael TD will be selected to fill the role left vacant by Creighton — but a party spokesperson said there were no details as yet as to how that process would take place.
A spokesperson for the Taoiseach has been contacted for comment by TheJournal.ie.
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