Malone calls De Rossa `traitor' in poster row

Labour has attempted to defuse a row between its European election candidates in Dublin, in which Ms Bernie Malone MEP described fellow candidate Mr Proinsias De Rossa as a traitor, by insisting Mr De Rossa did not breach campaign guidelines by commissioning personalised election posters.

The party was responding to comments by its other Dublin candidate, Ms Malone, who was quoted in yesterday's Evening Herald as calling Mr De Rossa "a traitor in the camp".

Quoted in the newspaper interview, Ms Malone accused Mr De Rossa of breaking the party's code of practice with the posters, the content of which she described as "auld shite". She added: "By the time I realised we had a traitor in the camp, it was too late to get any advertising sites and too late for An Post to do a drop."

Ms Malone said last night she was surprised at the prominence given to the remarks, which were made during the course of a "very long" interview while she was canvassing on Tuesday. But she insisted her running mate had been "disloyal" in commissioning the posters which have appeared in recent days, carrying such slogans as "Determined De Rossa".

However, the party's director of elections in Dublin, Mr Henry Haughton, said he had personally approved the posters and Mr De Rossa had done nothing wrong. In addition to the official posters commissioned and paid for by the party, candidates could produce their own material, provided it mentioned the other candidate and was seen and approved by the director. Mr De Rossa's posters had met these criteria.

Of Ms Malone's comments, Mr Haughton - who was the MEP's personal director of elections in 1994 - added: "I'd rather candidates spent their time on positive things. But they are candidates, and candidate-itis can be a terrible affliction for some people."

Mr De Rossa was not commenting on the row last night, but Labour said he had commissioned about 70 of the posters at a total cost of "less than £2,000".

Last night, Ms Malone said she had been refused permission to put personalised posters on lamp posts, saying these were reserved for the official material featuring both candidates.

She said Mr De Rossa was being "disloyal in the sense that he's preventing the best public representation for Labour." Sources close to Mr De Rossa deny this.