Tom Fortune’s Open Letter To Stephen Donnelly

The inevitable fallout from Stephen Donnelly’s decision to leave his Independence days behind and join Fianna Fáil continues.

Early this morning, Kilcoole Councillor Tom Fortune has issued an open comment – or maybe he meant to write ‘open contempt’? – to his political colleague.

And it went something very much like this…

Open comment to STEPHEN DONNELLY

Stephen this is just an attempt at a PR statement and I notice your PR Conor Dempsey has come in twice on the massive amount of posts in reaction to your statement. It is interesting that you are starting to think you are a born again Sean Lemass.

I have listened to most of your media appearances since yesterday and what arrogance comes across in regard to Brexit , Europe and America. You posture that you have all the answers, WOW how luckily we all are. If you can really make all this happen fine, but, and the reason I had to comment, don’t in making this political career move try and destroy the independent politician to try and justify what you are doing.

The way politics is evolving Independents are more important then ever. If there are no Independents who is in political terms going to say when it is needed that” the Emperor has no cloths”. The party whip will ensure it will not be you.

There are testing times ahead and it will need Independent thinking people in the mix. So come on, by all means do what you want with your political career, but don’t try and destroy the Independent politician in order to justify your decision.

Remember that is where you lectured everyone from up to yesterday.

Below is Donnelly’s statement on his move to Fianna Fáil, which appeared on his Facebook page, and met with largely unfavourable comments…

As you may have heard, yesterday I joined Fianna Fáil, and have been appointed to the front bench on Brexit. There’s been a generally positive reaction in Wicklow but also understandable frustration and surprise.

We’re all well aware of the on-going challenges at home and the rapidly escalating risks due to events in Britain, the US and across Europe. My view is we’re now facing the biggest economic threat in decades. So what to do? By FAR the easiest thing would be to stay Independent and try to influence things at the margins. Given what we’re facing, that would be too little, in my view, and so wasn’t an option. The best way to have impact is as part of a strong team. So that’s what I’m doing.

Why Fianna Fáil? First, they’re a good policy fit. Compare the FF & Soc Dem election manifestos and you’ll see a party going back to its social democratic roots. Second, in the party today I see a strong team with an appetite for doing things differently and for taking Ireland in a better direction. Third, we need some of the big, brave thinking of the Lemass era, and I believe that potential’s there today.

Didn’t I criticise them at length? I did, and stand by those views. I’ve equally criticised Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin. So if I ruled parties out on that basis, I’d be right back to the Independent benches.

What I did yesterday wasn’t done lightly. I knew some people would react negatively. I respect that some would have preferred me to stay Independent. And I understand that others are shocked. It took me a long time to come to the conclusion I did. In the end, it boiled down to one simple question – ‘What’s the best way to serve?’ – and after a lot of consideration, the decision made itself.

For now, I’ll be focusing on getting on top of my brief and working as hard as ever in the constituency with the team.

Sincerely,

Stephen.

You can read more about the political fallout in Greystones and beyond here