The vice chair of Fine Gael’s national executive is unlikely to face any sanctions over his comments on twitter until the New Year, writes Irish Examiner political correspondent, Juno McEnroe.
The executive, a top group of elected and non-elected officials who regularly meet about Fine Gael, is not set to meet again until at least the end of this month.
It comes as Fine Gael TD Kate O’Connell sent an official complaint against Barry Walsh to party HQ over multiple attacks and comments made by Mr Walsh.
Senior party sources said the same disciplinary process would take place like in any other case.
If the complaints about his online abuse is officially deemed an issue by the executive, it will then be referred to the an internal disciplinary committee, of which Mr Walsh is also a member. However, he would make himself absent from any such meeting, say sources.
Any recommendation from this though could also be appealed back to the executive itself. All this process would likely take weeks, if maybe not months.
It is also the case that Mr Walsh could bring a lawyer if he so desired to the detailed hearings.
Despite the concern and anger expressed by female politicians, a senior party source said:
“He has to be given due process. There may be more to this than meets the eye. He has a grievance with the Eighth Amendment Committee, which Kate is also on.”
However, the process may be complicated by the fact that there has been no precedent of a non-elected representative being expelled from the party, sources said.
