Lee is "a huge loss" say local Fine Gael representatives

Athlone Senator Nicky McFadden has described George Lee's resignation from Fine Gael and the Dáil as "a huge loss" to the party and said that if she were party leader she would have "bent over backwards" to keep him in the fold. Meanwhile local TD Denis Naughten - a member of the Fine Gael front bench - was "dumbfounded" by Lee's announcement but said the party, and its leader Enda Kenny, could ultimately be strengthened by it. In general, the party's most prominent representatives in this region said they were taken aback when they learned of Lee's departure on Monday. "I was quite shocked when I heard the news. It's a sad day for Fine Gael," said Senator McFadden on Monday evening. "At our last parliamentary party meeting, the week before last, I had seen no indication that anything was wrong. The parliamentary party meetings are a very frank and open forum for expressing your views and I thought that if George was unhappy it might have been raised for discussion there. "I would have been very supportive of George Lee coming into the party. He's a world-renowned economist - the best economist in the country - and he's such a loss to Fine Gael. "I still believe that Enda Kenny is a team captain but collectively, as a party, we have failed George Lee," said Senator McFadden. "If I were party leader I think I would have sensed something was amiss and I would have bent over backwards and found a way to keep George Lee in Fine Gael. I wouldn't have taken no for an answer." Deputy Denis Naughten said he first learned of George Lee's decision when a journalist phoned him for a comment on it. "I was shocked and dumbfounded," said the Roscommon TD. "I spoke to George in Leinster House on Thursday last. My uncle had done a huge amount of work for him during his by-election campaign and had given him some help since then, so we were talking about that. I had no inkling that this was about to happen or that he was so unhappy with his role within the party. Nobody saw it coming." Deputy Naughten said there was "no doubt" that the party had lost a major asset. "He is somebody I admired. I thought he was a very good communicator and someone who could have gone very far in the party. Some people even spoke of him as a possible party leader at some stage in the future. "You do wonder if (Lee) made the right choice, because we've all gone through phases similar to the one he's going through now. You have to assess things every so often but George didn't give it a lot of time. Maybe he wasn't cut out for politics. You need to have patience and persistence because if you think things are going to change overnight, they're not." Fine Gael's Mayor of Athlone, Mark Cooney, said he was "surprised" by Lee's resignation. "It's the loss of a talent in the party, but the party has lots of talent," said Cllr Cooney. "People get involved in politics and you presume that they will be in it for the long haul. But perhaps the role wasn't what he was expecting. I think it can be very difficult to make the move from a very different role to that of a fulltime politician. Perhaps there's something to be said for serving the long, slow political apprenticeship." He said there may have been "a failure to communicate" between Lee and Fine Gael. "Whether that was from his side or the party's side is difficult to say, but I'm sure it will come out in the wash," said Cllr Cooney. The only Fine Gael representative we contacted who "wasn't overly surprised" by Lee's decision was Longford/Westmeath TD James Bannon. Discussing Lee's move, he said: "Politics takes a lot of hard graft. I'm 25 years at it myself, and you have to work at it and look after your constituents. "You have to be cut out for politics and - no disrespect to George - I don't think he was cut out for it. He threw away a golden opportunity because I think he could have had a very bright future in the party."