Taoiseach Enda Kenny has dismissed accusations of “stroke politics” in his rejection of three women shortlisted for a vacant Seanad seat in favour of a male Fine Gael activist, saying it was his choice as the leader of the party to pick a candidate.

Speaking on a visit to Rhode Island, Mr Kenny said the nomination of unsuccessful local election candidate John McNulty was no different to any other appointment made by Fine Gael and that Mr McNulty’s appointment to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which he did not apply for, was made by the Minister for the Arts Heather Humphreys.

“It is the right of the leader of the day to decide who should be nominated,” he said.

“I have to verify all of the nominations of all the candidates for general elections and for the Seanad so from that point of view the process is one that Fine Gael have always followed down through the years.”

There was nothing unusual in his decision to pick a fourth name instead of choosing from a shortlist of three potential candidates, he said.

He rejected suggestions of showing a gender imbalance by nominating Mr McNulty in October’s Senate by-election, pointing to Fine Gael’s nomination of Senator Cait Keane and councillor Maura Hopkins to stand in Dail by-elections.

Mr Kenny also noted his appointment of Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to chair the electoral strategy for the party.

The chairwoman of the executive council of Fine Gael was also a woman, he said.

“Comments about appointments and non-appointments don’t stand up in that regard,” he said.

“Obviously Fine Gael is the party that has made most running here in terms of having more women appointed.” He pointed out that women accounted for the majority of his nominees to the Senate. “There weren’t any questions asked by people on that occasion.”

The Taoiseach said that he had not spoken to the Tánaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton about the controversy but that she was informed about the process that Fine Gael adopted in the nominations and she herself had referred to that. Mr Kenny praised Mr McNulty saying that he expected him to be “an outstanding senator.”

“He is a young man of considerable energy and potential,” he said, adding that he represented a rural Ireland that needs every assistance it can get.