Tánaiste criticised for claiming No campaign may seek to frighten voters

A prominent member of Fine Gael in Cork has taken issue with Tánaiste Simon Coveney saying that some people campaigning for a No vote in the referendum on the Eighth Amendment may seek to frighten others into voting No if they have any doubts about the proposal.

Dermot Collins, former Chairman of the Béal na Bláth annual commemoration committee, said he was disappointed to read what Mr Coveney was suggesting.

“As a Fine Gael man, I take great umbrage at that. I’m actually out campaigning for a No vote and I’m disappointed that the Tánaiste would be accusing somebody like me, for example, as a very long time member of Fine Gael of trying to frighten undecided voters,” he said.

At the launch on Saturday of the Fine Gael campaign in Cork for a Yes vote in the May 25th referendum, Mr Coveney predicted it will be those who are currently undecided who will decide the outcome. However, he said he had concerns they may be afraid to vote for change because of the arguments made by the No campaign.

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“I think there will be efforts as this campaign goes on to try and persuade or in some cases frighten people who are undecided and there will be a view expressed that if in doubt, vote No and if you don’t know what is coming in the future, then don’t change things,” he said.

‘Disingenuous’

However, Mr Collins, who supported Mr Coveney in his bid for the Fine Gael leadership last year against Leo Varadkar, said he found the Tánaiste's comments unfair to people like him who were campaigning to retain the amendment, which guarantees an equal right to life for the mother and the unborn, for genuine reasons.

“I have enormous difficulty with his suggestion that those campaigning to retain the Eighth Amendment, and that’s a person like me, may frighten undecided voters into voting No. I think it’s disingenuous of him to suggest that people like me might frighten anyone into voting No.”

A former town councillor in Kinsale, Mr Collins said that he was deeply upset at the idea that Irish legislators would introduce legislation that would allow abortion up to 12 weeks. However, he said that on the campaign trail seeking support for the No side, he respects the views of everyone he meets.

Asked about how the No campaign was being received, Mr Collins said that responses were mixed with older people whom might be expected to be supporting the No side sometimes indicating that they are voting Yes and young people surprising them by saying they are voting No.

Mr Collins also took issue with views expressed by Minister of State and Cork South West TD Jim Daly, who is supporting a Yes vote. He said he did not believe Mr Daly's views represented those views of Fine Gael members or the population generally in west Cork.

"West Cork would be a conservative area and I don't believe Jim Daly's views are representative of of west Cork. Both of the other west Cork TDs, Fianna Fáil's Margaret Murphy O'Mahony and Michael Collins are on the other side and that would suggest to me that Jim Daly would be in a minority."