Mellor quits Fianna Fail after local election row

Lisa Mellor, the Fianna Fail activist and local election candidate, who claimed she was betrayed by her party in the wake of the 2019 campaign, has announced her resignation from the party.

“After much deliberation, I have decided to cut my ties with the Fianna Fail party.
“As Fianna Fail didn’t support their own candidate for the vacant seat after the local election and voted for another nominee who wasn’t on the ballot paper, I feel I have no other option but to leave Fianna Fail be an independent voice,” she said.
“I want to again thank those who voted for me and all the people in the village of Stamullen and its surrounding areas for their kind words and support.
“I will continue to work diligently for the Ashbourne Municipal District, including the Stamullen/Gormanston area where I live, as I have done for the past 15 years,” she said.   
Ms Mellor said last June, she felt “totally and utterly betrayed” by her former colleagues, who had voted against her co-option onto Meath Co Council.
Lisa Mellor’s 12 Fianna Fáil colleagues voted against her in favour of Amanda Smith who had been nominated by Cllr Sharon Keogan to fill the vacant seat in the Ashbourne electoral area which arose from Cllr Keogan having been elected in two areas. The Independent councillor opted to take her seat in Laytown/Bettystown, leaving the Ashbourne seat vacant.
Ironically, all 12 Fine Gael members of the council had voted to co-opt Ms Mellor, who was next in line for a seat in Ashbourne in the local elections last May, narrowly losing out on a seat to Sinn Fein's Darren O'Rourke.
The vote for Cllr Smith was a result of a voting pact for the chair of the council involving Fianna Fáil, some of the Independents, Aontú and Labour.
At that very heated meeting, the Fianna Fail councillors were accused of sacrificing one of their own for “30 pieces of silver” and Ms Mellor she felt “totally and utterly betrayed” by her former colleagues.