Maria Bailey: Swing fall case TD deselected by Fine Gael
- Published
Maria Bailey was deselected by Fine Gael's National Executive Council in Dublin on Thursday
Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey - notable for a controversial compensation action that became known as swing gate - has been removed from her party's ticket.
The decision to deselect her was made after a party meeting in Dublin on Thursday evening.
Ms Bailey said in a statement she was "disappointed" at the decision of her party's national executive.
No date has been set for an Irish general election, but spring 2020 has been mentioned as a possibility., external
Ms Bailey - who is currently the TD for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency - has faced increased media attention since details emerged of a personal injuries claim against the Dean Hotel in Dublin.
She fell from an indoor swing in July 2015 while holding a bottle of beer.
Ms Bailey dropped the compensation claim in May after it emerged that she had run a 10km race in under an hour just three weeks after the fall, despite claiming in court documents that she could not run in the three months after the accident.
The current Fine Gael government has been critical of vexatious claims that have resulted in very high insurance premiums.
In July, Leo Varadkar said while Ms Bailey had suffered "real" injuries and her claim was not fraudulent she had made "numerous errors of judgement".
At the time, Mr Bailey was removed from her role as chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas (parliamentary) Committee on Housing.
'Rebuild my reputation'
In her statement posted to her Twitter account, Ms Bailey said she had been informed of her deselection on Wednesday.
She said she had been advised the decision had been based on a motion passed by the Dún Laoghaire Fine Gael constituency.
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"I had hoped to be able to move on and work hard to rebuild my reputation but at every turn there have been anonymous sources trying to reignite the story around me," she said.
In a statement, Fine Gael said Ms Bailey had been removed from the ticket for the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown constituency following a recommendation from Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar.
The party said in its statement councillor Jennifer Carroll MacNeill had been added to the ticket.
- Published23 July 2019
