Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party appears divided ahead of tonight’s meeting, where they will discuss the long-awaited report on the disastrous Jim Gavin campaign.
The report was commissioned in the wake of the Presidential election to investigate what went so wrong in the party’s failed Presidential bid. Last night it was completed and delivered to party leader Micheál Martin. It is now due to be delivered to the parliamentary party, who will meet tonight at 7pm to discuss its findings.
“I COULDN’T BE LESS INTERESTED”
Speaking to Gript, party sources had very different feelings about the upcoming meeting.
“I couldn’t be less interested,” said one Oireachtas member.
“I’m like an obliged guest at a Christmas party wondering what’s the minimum amount of time I can stay before I can leave without it being rude. Honest to God. I’ll be watching my clock to see how quickly I can get out.”
“THERE’S NO ONE STEPPING FORWARD PUSHING A LEADERSHIP CONTEST”
The source said the entire meeting was futile because nobody was challenging Martin’s leadership, so there was little in the way of practical action that could emerge from the discussion.
“I don’t expect to hear anything new,” the source said.
“There’s no one stepping forward pushing a leadership contest, so this is just a bit of a waste of time. I’d prefer if we focused on our general election results and our local election results, and how did we get on with those. That’s what I’d prefer to be putting our time into. I don’t know why we’re going to do a specific extra meeting on elections that haven’t gone well.
“UNLESS THEY’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO PULL THE TRIGGER AND CALL A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN HIM, THIS IS A WASTE OF FUCKING TIME”
“I’m not picking up [anger] from people, other than a group of colleagues – who I have huge time for, I really enjoy their company – who are quite aggrieved. But that’s not everybody. And for me, it’s not coming up in conversations – like, at all. It’s just not.
“So yes, some people feel strongly about it, but that’s not everybody. And unless they’re actually going to pull the trigger and call a vote of no confidence in him, this is a waste of fucking time.”
The source added: “Do something or move on. And hey, maybe they will. And if they do, grand – let’s get on with that too. But performative outrage is really more of a Sinn Féin thing rather than a Fianna Fáil thing.”
They specified that the last meeting of this sort, which went on for 6 hours and was held in the immediate aftermath of the election, was “not performative” and was “positive”, in that it helped to clear the air and bring the party closer together. But, they argued, this one was simply re-trodding old ground for no one’s benefit.
PARTY MEMBERS “VERY ANNOYED” AND “LOOKING FOR ANSWERS”
By contrast, another parliamentary party member said that in the party, people were “very annoyed” about the procedure by which the party selected its candidate, adding: “I suppose they’re looking for answers and they’ll be maybe hoping that those answers will be forthcoming in the report.”
This source agreed with the assessment that unless the report was very favourable to Martin, it would pose a serious political problem for him given the level of frustration within party ranks towards his leadership.
GAVIN’S DISASTROUS CAMPAIGN
Jim Gavin was selected as the Fianna Fáil candidate for the Irish Presidential election earlier this year, but dropped out of the race just weeks before polling day, due to a controversy regarding a past personal financial dispute regarding rent owed to a former tenant.
His abrupt exit left the party without a candidate for the election, but his name remained on the ballot, meaning he accrued just 7.2% of the vote – Fianna Fáil’s worst ever result in a Presidential election by far. The failed campaign is estimated to have cost the party around half a million euros in posters, advertisements, and related expenditure, none of which was recouped.
MARTIN “ABSOLUTELY” CONFIDENT HE WILL REMAIN PARTY LEADER
Gavin had been heavily backed by party leader Micheál Martin, leading to significant disquiet within the party and resulting in an internal report being commissioned investigating what transpired.
Martin has said he is “absolutely” confident that he will remain party leader, saying he does not think his leadership is under threat at all.
This morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher – who unsuccessfully sought the Presidential nomination – failed to state that he has confidence in Martin’s leadership, saying he thought it would be wrong to say he has confidence “in anybody or not until such time as I see the report.”