Jimmy Devins resigns from Fianna Fáil
national |
politics / elections |
news report 
Wednesday August 05, 2009 17:45
by Noble 7
"rats leaving sinking ship" in widely anticipated cosmetic bid to save seat
Jimmy Devins TD has resigned from the Fianna Fáil party.
Devins may be best known to Indymedia readers as the husband of Mary Devins, the judge who presides over many court cases involving opponents of the Shell plan to install an experimental pipeline in Erris, County Mayo.
In a move that has been widely predicted, he claimed the government's refusal to budge on the issue of cancer seen as the reason for his resignation. The resignation from Fianna Fáil is seens as a purely cosmetic move, since he waited until the Dáil was suspended for the summer break. It is unlikely that Devins will vote against the government on any matters unrelated to the health service in his local constituency.
His resignation is an attempt for him to distance himself from an unpopular government policy, and it is unlikely that he will change his stated views on any major issues in the run up to the next election, after which it is believed he will rejoin the party.
Devins's grandfather was a Sinn Féin TD during the civil war. He was captured by Free State forces in 1922 and summarily executed.