Heather Humphreys regrets appointing Donegal man John McNulty to museum board

Fine Gael's Presidential Election candidate, Heather Humphreys has said that she regretted the appointment of Donegal man John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2014.

The appointment caused a political controversy, with Fianna Fáil claiming the appointment was made to help the candidacy of the Kilcar businessman in a forthcoming Seanad byelection.

Mr McNulty stepped down from the board saying the institution's internal rules prevented him from being a board member and contesting an election at the same time, after then Taoiseach Enda Kenny had come under pressure over the appointment

The Fine Gael candidate then effectively withdrew from the Seanad race by requesting that Oireachtas members not vote for him in the byelection.

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Then the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ms Humphreys had said she appointed Mr McNulty on his own merits. 

However, speaking to RTÉ News on Wednesday, Ms Humphreys - who on Tuesday was confirmed as the sole nominee for Fine Gael to contest the upcoming presidential election - said she had regretted her actions.

"I made a mistake when I made that appointment. It was 11 years ago, I was a new minister at the time, and I think I had only been in the job a few weeks at that stage.

"It was the first time I ever appointed anybody to a Board and back then there was no clear process in place for Board appointments.

"Now we have the public appointments system," she said.

Ms Humphreys said it taught her that it does not matter whether it is an unpaid position or not, "there must be a proper transparent system for public appointments".

"So, I have followed that system since," she said.