Tánaiste Micheál Martin has gotten into a very public argument with one of his own MEP candidates while on the campaign trail.
Fianna Fáil Senator Niall Blaney, who is running in the upcoming European elections in the Midlands-North-West constituency, initiated the row today by telling reporters in Dublin during a press conference that he was not getting the “same support” from party leadership compared to other Fianna Fáil candidates.
Notably, he is running alongside Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen, and Fianna Fáil Seanad leader Lisa Chambers in the same constituency.
“We are not getting our fair share,” Blaney said of his own campaign.
“It’s up to Fianna Fáil, a real Republican party, to support all the candidates – to give everybody an opportunity to take a seat. And I feel there’s a real opportunity now to take a seat on the border and the Connaught counties. But we need equal support for the last two weeks, and not just support for a few.”
He added: “If the Tánaiste [Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin] goes for a canvas, he goes for a canvas with all three [candidates]. And I think if he does a video with one candidate, he has to do a video with all three. I’m asking for equal opportunity and equal support.”
Later on during the press event, Tánaiste Micheál Martin responded robustly.
A row broke out between the Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin and European candidate Niall Blaney at a press conference in Dublin today.
Mr Blaney accused the party leadership of not giving the 'same support' to his campaign | https://t.co/GmYpDiUyT1 pic.twitter.com/CjgMvowrk0
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 24, 2024
“First of all, I canvassed with Niall,” he said.
“The only person I think I haven’t canvassed with yet is Lisa [Chambers].”
At this point, Blaney tried to interject, at which point the Tánaiste cut him off.
“No, sorry…that’s what I’ve done with all the candidates,” Martin said.
“All the European election candidates are with local election candidates when we canvas.”
One of the candidates beside Martin chimed in saying: “Correct – I canvassed with you with other local candidates.”
Martin continued: “So that’s it, that’s the position – we will deal with how the campaign gets conducted after the press conference. I’m not going to have a public discussion on the logistics of a campaign.”
All the while, Blaney looked disgruntled.
This is not the first time during this campaign the Senator has had a clash with his own party colleagues.
Earlier this month, he said he was “angered” by the “ill-judged” border control comments of Fianna Fáil MEP candidate Barry Cowen – despite running alongside Cowen in the same constituency as his running mate.
“We have fought long and hard to get rid of border controls on this island”: A Fianna Fáil MEP candidate says he was “angered” by the “ill judged” border control comments of another Fianna Fáil MEP candidate running in the same constituency.https://t.co/geVSk86jAd
— gript (@griptmedia) May 10, 2024