Maria Bailey complains to constituency members over ballot deselection

In a letter to members in the south Dublin area, the TD says she wants the record corrected and indicates she would like clarity over whether members or the Taoiseach made the decision.

Ms Bailey was removed from the Fine Gael election team for Dun Laoghaire last week following months of controversy over her injury claim against a Dublin hotel for falling off a swing.

She was initially demoted in Leinster House after an internal party investigation over the claim and also withdrew it after huge criticism over the compensation case.

The matter came to a head last week when Fine Gael's national executive discussed her position. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also told her by letter she had been deselected. She was replaced on the ticket by newly elected councillor Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.

But it has emerged that Ms Bailey wrote to party members in Dun Laoghaire questioning how she was removed from the three-person election candidate team.

The letter was first sent by Ms Bailey to the constituency chair Ed Kennedy and then circulated by email to members this morning.

In the letter, the TD references a meeting last week she had with Fine Gael's director of organisation for elections, Minister Paschal Donohoe, as well as party general secretary Tom Curran. This meeting was held the day before her deselection and the letter from Mr Varadkar.

She wrote:

“At about 5pm, on November 14th, the evening of the Executive Council’s meeting, I received a copy of the letter from An Taoiseach to the chair of the Executive Council stating that as party leader and under the provisions of Rule 44A(v) of the Fine Gael Constitution and Rules, he was proposing that the Executive Council delete me as a candidate for the next General Election in the Constituency of Dun Laoghaire,” the letter says.

“He continued: ‘I make this proposal because in my judgement, the best interests of the party are served by deleting Maria Bailey TD as a candidate for the next general election’. There were no reasons given for this judgement.

"At no time before I attended the Executive Council was I told by either Paschal Donohoe or Tom Curran that the basis of my deselection had been changed from the constituency motion to solely that of the Taoiseach’s proposal.

“I am not aware whether the review requested by the constituency was in fact carried out by the Executive Council. If such a review was conducted, I was not advised of any conclusions or the reasons for any such conclusions.

“I was not afforded any opportunity to address the Executive Council on the conclusions of any such review by them. As stated, the Executive Council told me that the only matter before them was the proposal from the Taoiseach, so I must conclude that no review was carried out by them.

“I appreciate that this has been a difficult time for you also, but it is very important to me that the record be corrected and that this be communicated to all members.”