The temporary appointment of a Fine Gael member to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art has escalated into a major political embarrassment for the Government and for Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

One backbencher said people in the party were becoming digusted at the way Fine Gael was being run.

Fine Gael’s candidate in next month’s Seanad byelection John McNulty announced yesterday that he was stepping down from the board of Imma, 13 days after he was appointed to it on September 12th.

The reason for his resignation is that Imma’s rules preclude him from being a board member and contesting an election at the same time.

No board meeting has taken place during that time.

Mr McNulty did not visit the Imma campus in Kilmainham in an official capacity, nor meet any of its staff or board members, during that time.

The extraordinarily brief period of his directorship – less than a fortnight – was seen as giving substance to the assertions of critics that his appointment was designed solely to give him sufficient qualifications to stand for the culture and education panel in the Seanad byelection.

Backbenches

In the growing controversy

the Taoiseach has come under fire yesterday not only from the Opposition parties but also from his backbenches in Fine Gael.

Waterford deputy John Deasy, a critic of Mr Kenny, said: "People within Fine Gael are becoming digusted with the way the party is being run."

He also suggested the Taoiseach was increasingly acting with impunity as the economy recovered.

In a series of interviews yesterday, Mr Kenny and Minster for Arts Heather Humphreys pointedly declined to address media questions about the circumstances of Mr McNulty's appointment to Imma and its apparent connection with his Seanad candidacy.

The Taoiseach said Mr McNulty had co-operated with the rules but he deflected questions on whether Ms Humphreys had been aware Mr McNulty was going to become Fine Gael’s Seanad byelection candidate at the time of his appointment to the board of Imma.

Repeatedly asked about Ms Humphreys’s knowledge, Mr Kenny said: “I can’t answer for the Minister in that regard.”

Asked if he had given an instruction to her to appoint Mr McNulty, he said he had never given instructions for a Minister to make an appointment.

He added that all nominations are made to Cabinet and said that “obviously we have encouraged people to apply in a particular way”.

It was not clear if this was a reference to the Cabinet encouraging Mr McNulty to apply for the Imma board.

Seanad vacancy

Mr Kenny made it clear

it was he who chose Mr McNulty as the party's candidate to fill the Seanad vacancy caused by the election of Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament.

Asked about Mr Deasy’s comments, he said: “I have heard many comments from John over the years and nothing changes.”

In another development, a Fine Gael member who had been put on the party's priority list of candidates, Samantha Long, also told The Irish Times she was resigning from the party as a result of the practices surrounding Mr McNulty's nomination.

In her first public appearance since the row erupted, Ms Humphreys, who appointed Mr McNulty to the Imma board, again deflected questions on whether she was aware he was to be the party’s Seanad candidate at the time of the appointment.

She said she was unaware of Ms Long’s resignation.

Mr McNulty has not responded to telephone calls from The Irish Times this week.