With less than two weeks to go until the local and European elections, the Green Party has openly mocked their own coalition partners in Fianna Fáil for what they describe as an election launch “meltdown”.
The comments came after Fianna Fáil Senator Niall Blaney, who is running in the upcoming European elections in the Midlands-North-West constituency, got into an open spat with his own party leader, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, in the middle of a public press briefing.
At a European election campaign launch in Dublin on Friday, Blaney complained to reporters that he felt his campaign was not getting its “fair share” of support from party leadership compared to Fianna Fáil’s other European candidates – a claim which Martin strongly rebuffed.
This ultimately descended into open squabbling in front of the media, with the Tánaiste cutting Blaney off abruptly while reporters looked on.
“We will deal with how the campaign gets conducted after the press conference,” he said.
“I’m not going to have a public discussion on the logistics of a campaign.”
WATCH: “I’m not going to get into a public discussion” – Tánaiste Micheál Martin has gotten into a public clash with one of his own Fianna Fáil MEP candidates in the middle of a public press briefing as reporters looked on:https://t.co/c2H7uuf8kN
— gript (@griptmedia) May 24, 2024
The Green Party was quick to repost the story on social media platform X, with a picture of several of their MEP candidates cracking up laughing.
“News reaches the Green Party of Fianna Fáil Euro campaign launch meltdown,” the caption read.
News reaches the Green Party of Fianna Fáil Euro campaign launch meltdown 👀 https://t.co/OYRU67I4H5 pic.twitter.com/ISwtbuJG1s
— Green Party Ireland (@greenparty_ie) May 24, 2024
According to the most recent RedC/Business Post poll released on Saturday evening, Fianna Fáil is polling at 15%, compared to the Green Party’s 4%. This puts the Greens neck-and-neck with Labour, and one point below the Social Democrats, while Fianna Fáil is four points below “Independents And Others”.
INDs & Others: 19%
— Ireland Votes | #Vote2024 (@Ireland_Votes) May 25, 2024