With an aborted selection convention Fine Gael in Mayo has made the worst possible start to preparing for the next general election. The entire party executive in the five-seater constituency has resigned because party headquarters cancelled last month's convention at short notice.
There are no signs of wounds being healed and of the local executive re-forming. If anything, attitudes within the disbanded executive are hardening. The latest casualty of the row has been a "race night" organised for Ballina at the end of this month to raise funds for the party.
All branches in the county and the three sitting TDs, Mr Jim Higgins, Mr Enda Kenny and Mr Michael Ring, received a terse note last week from former members of the local executive. The tone of the message indicates the degree of resentment which lingers in the aftermath of the convention postponement.
The message, signed by Mr James Waldron, chairman; Ms Imelda Kelly, secretary, and Mr Jim Nally, organisr/director of elections, reads: "We had expected to use our convention on September 17th as a base for our fund-raising race night. As the convention was needlessly cancelled, against our wishes, we now have no option but to cancel the race night."
Infighting is the last thing Fine Gael wants if it is to hold on to the three seats won in Mayo at the last election. A vote-gathering performance by the poll-topping Mr Ring gave Fine Gael the edge over Fianna Fail in Mayo for the first time.
"What has happened in the past month has been a complete disaster for Fine Gael from an organisational point of view," a party insider confided.
In the weeks leading up to the abandoned convention there had been concerns about Ballina where local solicitor and UDC member Ms Michelle Mulherin was being groomed to stand for the Dail in place of Senator Ernie Caffrey.
Ms Mulherin resisted strong pressure to seek a nomination. Senator Caffrey indicated he was prepared to reconsider his decision not to seek one. But party headquarters, believing Ms Mulherin could be persuaded to change her mind, looked for a postponement of the convention.
The manner in which headquarters cancelled the convention at short notice and gave spurious excuses for the cancellation in newspaper advertisements- led to barely concealed fury among the local executive. Many of the 1,500 delegates entitled to attend went to the Travellers Friend Hotel in Castlebar unaware the event had been cancelled.