The John McNulty / Enda Kenny Saga.

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 whose leadership was described as “disgusting” by one of his own backbench TDs.

Fine Gael’s candidate in next month’s Seanad byelection John McNulty announced this afternoon that he was stepping down from the board of Imma, only 13 days after being appointed to the board 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 and 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.

In the growing controversy, the Taoiseach has come under fire today not only from the Opposition parties but also from his own backbenches in Fine Gael.Waterford Deputy John Deasy, a critic ofMr Kenny, said people in the party were becoming “disgusted” at the way Fine Gael was run and also suggested the Taoiseach had appointed some ministers who were “not fit” for their positions. He also suggested the Taoiseach was increasingly acting with impunity as the economy recovered.

In a series of interviews today, Mr Kenny and Minster of Arts Helen 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 cooperated with the rules but deflected questions on whether or not Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys was aware he was going to become Fine Gael’s Seanad byelection candidate at the time of his appointment.

Repeatedly asked about Ms Humphreys’ knowledge, he 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.

Mr Kenny made it clear that it was he who made the choice to choose 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, Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys who appointed Mr McNulty to the Imma board, again deflected questions on whether or not she was aware that 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 himself has not been responding to calls from The Irish Times this week.

On RTE’s The News at One programme, Mr Deasy said the appointment process to the board of Imma had been “clearly manipulated and abused”.