Conlan rules out joining Renua

Cavan-Monaghan Independent TD Sean Conlan has ruled out the possibility of joining fellow former Fine Gael party member Lucinda Creighton as a member of her Renua party in Cavan-Monaghan ahead of the upcoming general election. He denied outright any such move despite the position for local candidacy coming available following the withdrawal of Mary Smyth following comments she is alleged to have posted on social media, including a reference to the Vatican being “riddled with gay sex”.

Deputy Conlan, who replaced Ms Creighton on the Fine Gael national executive after she left the party over the passing of abortion legislation in 2013, told The Anglo-Celt this week: “I am running as an Independent. I'm doing my own thing. I haven't been approached and don't expect to either. I'm staying as an Independent because I feel that now that is the best way in which I can serve this constituency,” he said.

 

Step-down

Ms Smyth, a counselling psychologist and qualified nurse, stepped down at the weekend after making comments Renua party leader Ms Creighton described as potentially “deeply hurtful” to members of the gay community.

In a series of posts to ‘Irish Anti-Abortion Crusade’, a private group on Facebook, the Monaghan-native who works in Cavan is said to have labelled the Vatican as “the Antichrist”, and described the Vatican as “corrupt, riddled with gay sex and adoration of wealth”.

Her remarks were made in response to Pope Francis allowing St Peter’s Basilica to be used for a light show coinciding with the Paris climate change talks. The decision angered many conservative Catholics who claim the Vatican was now allowing climate change activists to push their agenda.

The comments were brought to Renua's attention and the party subsequently launched an investigation by its ethics officer.

On her former candidate Facebook page, Ms Smyth said she had decided to run because she was “tired of the lies, betrayals and false promises” of the current government. She has since claimed that the site the comments were posted to had been hacked by a group targeting people with a pro-life agenda, and her comments had been taken out of context.

 

Vote with conscience

While acknowledging that Renua party members have a right to vote with their conscience, Ms Smyth has since stated that she had become “increasingly uneasy” with this stance, and felt there was “little evidence” of a desire among party members to include support for the unborn in the party Manifesto.

In response to recent comments, Ms Smyth has stated that a “private, closed anti-abortion discussion group” to which she “regularly contributed” had been infiltrated by a radical pro-abortion activist. She stated that this person “selected random private comments and sent them to the media in an obvious bid to discredit” her Pro-Life candidacy.

Ms Smyth claims her private comments had been embedded in a wider philosophical group discussion about questionable activities within the Vatican, and she hit out at the media report she says had “grossly misrepresented” her in recently published articles.

Ms Smyth has indicted that she now “feels free to focus” on her primary motivator to “vigorously defend” the 8th Amendment and the Right to Life of the developing baby in the womb, and has thus far not ruled out the possibility of standing for election again in future.

 

Unfair tax

Deputy Conlan meanwhile left Fine Gael party in dramatic circumstances last month citing issues regarding the controversial Eirgrid North-South Interconnector proposal, and concerns the current government are failing to listen to local views on the matter.

The local elected representative from Ballybay said he had legally represented the Monaghan Anti Pylon Committee before entering national politics and the issue had remained close to him.

Deputy Conlan hosted a a public meeting at the Kilmore Hotel earlier this week to discuss a proposed Bill aimed at ending what he claims is the “unfair” rate on car tax.

As it stands people who own a car registered prior to 2008 pay up to three times as much as those who own an identical car registered from 2008 onwards

Deputy Conlan says: “The Bill I have drafted will allow road tax on all pre-2008 vehicles, other than vintage vehicles which currently have a standard rate of €56 annually, to be calculated based on their CO2 emissions or engine size which ever is the lower of the two.”