SIMON Harris suffered a humiliating blow last night with his party's Executive Council rejecting his second attempt to put a controversial motion on the agenda for this weekend's Ard Fheis.
The motion, originally put forward by Dún Laoghaire party member Sarah Hynes, calls on Fine Gael to affirm itself as a 'centre-right party in the Christian democratic tradition'.
It is understood it was initially rejected last week by the Executive Council, which consists of a number of ordinary elected members and members of the parliamentary party, along with ministers and the Tánaiste.
The Mail has learned that Mr Harris then asked for this decision to be 'reconsidered', but it was 'very quickly' turned down again on Tuesday night, with multiple sources saying this was done by a substantial margin.
Mr Harris then asked the council to discuss the matter again, leading to the meeting being adjourned.
Last night, the council again rejected Mr Harris's plea in a second stunning defeat. 'There was a standoff going on here,' one party source said.
Another source commented that 'huge efforts' were made at the meeting to 'stymie' the motion from going ahead.
They added: 'One of [Simon] Coveney's people wanted it to go on and be heard. Concern was expressed from others of how it would look if the Executive Council was at odds with the leader.'
The motion has caused enormous divisions within Fine Gael, with one party member emailing this newspaper, saying that plans to stop the motion would enrage members. 'To say the grassroots members are furious is an understatement,' they said.
'The stage is set for a good row over the weekend,' a source said, speaking of the Ard Fheis taking place in University College Cork on Saturday and Sunday
Another source said that it was a 'testament to' Mr Harris as a leader that he was pushing to get the motion included in the ard fheis. 'There's no sense of this being orchestrated, it's organic and it's resonating with a lot of people, and Simon Harris can read that, and he's very good at reading the room,' they said.
Ms Hynes, who is behind the motion, said it was important to debate the issue of whether Fine Gael should self-define as centre right. She said: 'I believe that we should have a political position that is articulated and that values matter. I believe there is a left-right spectrum. There are many in the party who think we don't need a label, fair enough. But there is a left-right spectrum.'
She also said that 'it is fine to be a centre-right party'.
'My view is, can we discuss this,' added Ms Hynes, who was also on the party's Commission for Renewal and said the values espoused in it were centre right.
Economist and newspaper columnist David Higgins, another grassroots Fine Gael member, said that the party should question whether the 'progressive centre' it uses to describe itself was now appropriate, as the word 'progressive' was now associated with the 'woke left'.
However, the use of this language has irritated some TDs and senators within the party with one minister saying: 'I didn't like the way it culminated in this anti-woke agenda.
'We are Christian democrats, we have no problem saying that.'
A senior party source, with knowledge of the meetings, said the Executive Council viewed the motion as an attempt by Fine Gael members to 'challenge the direction of the party'.
'It's picked up a lot of traction over the weekend, including some commentary by Ivan Yates,' the source said. 'It has triggered quite a lot of discussion across the party. The perception [from the Executive Council] was that this could become a cryptic means of the membership challenging the direction of the party, in policy and political terms, over the last decade or so.'
Other TDs were also annoyed at the controversy, with one saying the party did not need to label itself and to corner itself into one segment of the political spectrum, while another said that there was not a proper place for the motion to be debated within the structures of the ard fheis.
The deputy said it did not neatly fit into any of the themes for motions to be debated at the ard fheis, adding that there had been over 400 motions submitted.
'Not all of them can be debated,' they added.
It is understood that news of Tuesday night's decision to keep the motion off the ard fheis agenda 'caused serious commotion' among party members overnight. 'The main finding of the Commission for Renewal is no one really understands what Fine Gael is meant to stand for,' a senior member said. 'The Executive Council wouldn't have been pushing for that debate, really. The opposite, in fact.'
The scenario was described as 'amateur hour', with party members concluding the motion got more attention from the Executive Council's attempt to cut it.
'The stage is set for a good row over the weekend,' the source said, speaking of the ard fheis taking place in University College Cork on Saturday and Sunday.
Yesterday, the Mail reported that Fine Gael's 'long-term viability' is at risk if it does not address how it is perceived by voters. The findings were a part of an internal report on the state of the party, which was commissioned by Mr Harris.
The report also warned that 'many people do not have a clear idea of what Fine Gael is about' and the public does 'not realise' what it stands for, with the party's messaging making it sound 'detached, managerial or defensive' when talking about key issues. The report engaged with members of the parliamentary party, staff members, activists and the broader general public.
It noted: 'Interviews with Fine Gael's parliamentary party, workshops with staff, trustees, councillors, and external observers showed a significant gap between how the party understands itself and how it is perceived by the public, revealing a disconnect that threatens the party's long-term viability if left unaddressed.'
A staff survey also showed that there were 'significant issues of party identity and clarity in messaging'.
Fine Gael needs to 're-establish a positive assertive sense of purpose and a political proposition' that can strengthen the party's connection with people, the report said.
It added: 'The party has developed a tone that projects competence, responsibility and economic stewardship.
'While this can be reassuring in some circumstances, it can also come across as detached, managerial or defensive when people are frustrated about issues such as housing, healthcare and the cost of living.' Fine Gael was contacted for comment.
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