*Junior Minister, Timmy Dooley (FF) and Cllr David Griffin (FF). Photograph: Joe Buckley
PROBLEMS were evident from the very beginning of the Presidential Election campaign for Fianna Fáil with county councillors in Clare claiming the party has lost its connection with the grassroots.
Five-time All-Ireland winning Dublin manager, Jim Gavin with parents hailing from Cree and Moy was hand-picked by Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) and deputy leader, Jack Chambers (FF) as the Fianna Fáil candidate to try succeed Michael D. Higgins (LAB) as the tenth President of Ireland.
Their campaign fell apart when Gavin withdrew at the beginning of October when issues emerged over a failure to pay back a tenant for monies owed for a property in Dublin.
Ireland South MEP, Billy Kelleher (FF) was defeated in an internal contest to get the Fianna Fáil nod while former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern (FF), Boomtown Rats front man Bob Geldof and ex Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin (FF) among those to have stated they were interested in running for the party in the Presidential election.
Fallout continues in Co Clare among elected members and party supporters over an abysmal campaign for the Soldiers of Destiny.
A General Election candidate for the party in 2016, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) admitted it has been an embarrassing time for Fianna Fáil. “The reason why it went so badly is because there wasn’t a proper procedure in place which must be addressed. Severe damage was caused to many people, the grassroots are hugely disappointed and to some degree embarrassed, whether Billy Kelleher would have succeeded or not at least the offering would have been broader. I hope the Fianna Fáil review will open up processes to allow not just paid-up members but all elected Fianna Fáil members to have a say and allow sufficient time for votes to be received and hustings to happen, the same as which happens if you want to be a candidate for a local or general election”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) remarked, “the Presidential Election for Fianna Fáil was a calamity from start to finish. There was too little information put out in the summer time as to what a selection process might look like and what the candidates might look like. There was a long hiatus in the summer where nothing was happening and then as candidates emerged annoyed with a lack of process they were slammed back with a fait accompli that Jim Gavin was the candidate. Jim is a fine man but his campaign at best was lacklustre, he didn’t perform with the first debate. His campaign didn’t catch attention and it wasn’t going to either. Jim withdrew then and it couldn’t be described as anything but a disaster. There is a lot to be looked at from the overall outcome from the spoiled votes, the successor in Catherine Connolly and with the nomination process as to how we could end up with a field of just two”.
Disconnect is growing at an alarming rate between headquarters and the ordinary member, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) flagged. “It all started with the nomination process and nominating Jim Gavin, while some people thought it was a good idea to have a popular man in Dublin, he has won All-Irelands and is a popular in an area with a lot of votes but around the country people had different views. It worked out different with Mary McAleese, the problem is in my view they let it sit too long, they should have picked the candidate much earlier. There is a big disconnect from the members and councillors who don’t have a say in the process, it has been shown up for what it was, it was a very poor decision and leaves us scratching our head. I first got involved putting up posters for Jack Lynch in 1977 and it is the first time I hadn’t someone from the party to vote for”.
Opting to sideline party members from the process was a big failing, Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) noted. “You’re asking somebody with no input therein lies a lot of the problems, people in the grassroots and on the ground are in contact with voters on a daily basis, they were not consulted and didn’t have any input in the selection process. That was a huge error in judgement to say the least”.
Ireland South MEP, Billy Kelleher (FF) would have been a better pick, Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) maintained. “In my opinion, I always thought Billy Kelleher would have been my preferred candidate from the word go. I’ve no problem with Jim Gavin whatsoever but Billy is a Fianna Fáil man, he has represented us at all levels, it was the wrong decision to go against one of our own. I don’t know would he have won but he would have been in the race right till the end”.
Insufficient protection was given to Gavin, Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF) believed. “I as a lay person and for my first-time as a councillor seeing a process like this, I thought he wasn’t well protected. They assumed because he was an outgoing person in the GAA and in the Army that he could automatically field very tough questions. At the minute in society there is no room for mistakes, once it is out there it can come back to you and if you can’t defend yourself it can get quite negative quickly. The members weren’t happy that they weren’t consulted in the process. These are the people who vote for us from the grassroots right through to the TDs, what they would have liked is to have had a vote for their President, they weren’t given that and they didn’t like that. A lot of them were mentioning other names in the party, they left it too late to pick someone and it wasn’t a fair system”.
Politics isn’t the right field for the ex chief of military aviation with the United Nations missions in the Central African Republic and in Chad, Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) felt. “We put forward someone who wasn’t suitable for the cut and thrust of politics, the real questioning and real questioning and examination of different issues”.
Fianna Fáil’s youngest councillor, Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF) stated she was waiting for the review to commence before forming her view on what went wrong. “As a councillor that is a question more fitting to the parliamentary party that was more involved with the process but from my own perspective, I’m eagerly awaiting the outcome of the review, hopefully when that is published it will give us a roadmap for future elections, I hope it doesn’t gather us dust on a shelf, it is more fitting for the parliamentary party than me to give a view on what went wrong but hopefully councillors can be more involved in the future”.
When asked what was her own personal view, she commented, “There is no getting away from the fact that it is a huge disappointment for everyone in Fianna Fáil from the grassroots to our leadership. I voted on the day and I was disappointed. On paper, Jim Gavin is a very strong candidate, he had name recognition, his background working with groups and in big roles, he had the right background and name recognition, I don’t think anyone could have seen what transpired in the end, it is hard to pinpoint to one thing”. She said Catherine Connolly (IND) gave “a shining example of a very successful and positive campaign, lessons can be learned from style of campaign she displayed from going on podcasts, sharing clips which got crazy numbers on TikTok. Jim was a fantastic candidate on paper but it wasn’t to be when it came down to election, all of us would like to wish him and his family well, there is no doubt it was very difficult for him and his family, politics is a very public arena and it can be really difficult”.
A connection has been lost between the party headquarters in Mount Street and the ordinary member, Cllr Michael Shannon (FF) lamented. “At the very beginning there was a lack of engagement from the head office, I think they would have loved if they got away without running a candidate, there was a sense that there wasn’t anybody there, Bertie Ahern’s name was mentioned, we didn’t know then but we know now he has engaged with them for a year and a half. If Bertie wanted to run and no one else was there, I’d have been okay with that, we know he has baggage but he had good record with the Northern Ireland peace talk. We all grew up with people getting killed in Northern Ireland, I remember growing up with someone dying most days in the North. In my view he deserved a run if he was asking to be considered, that is where a lot of grassroots Fianna Fáil people feel annoyed, this is the problem we have, head office have lost connection with grassroots which is the problem”.
Among the more vocal supporters for Jim Gavin, Cllr Shannon explained, “I was a good supporter of Jim Gavin when the name was floated, in my view I thought he’d be a good candidate, he had a great connection with youth of Dublin, the GAA youth and all youth involved in sport, he’d cross the line from teenagers and people in their early twenties where there is a lack of engagement with political process. I thought he ticked the boxes and Micheál Martin though the same, it is easy point fingers. The councillors have a mandate in the current constitution and we should be allowed exercise that mandate and nominate a candidate for the Arás, filling up the ballot with Maria Steen or the far left you give people a choice”.
Parties should consider fielding more than one candidate in Presidential elections to give more choice, Cllr Shannon felt. “There was no issue with Fine Gael running Seán Kelly along with Heather Humphreys, if we see a candidate in the Council who has a good Fianna Fáil background running as an Independent, once it is formulated and a judgement call made we should be allowed nominated a candidate and in nine out of ten times they will transfer, that needs to be done regardless of what is done in head office because they don’t get it right a lot of the time Even if they weren’t full Fine Gael if they were leaning to Fine Gael, the same as with us in Fianna Fáil, if a good candidate comes along whether they are Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, if a good Independent comes along and is well respected in all parties, we should be able to have our say. The provision is in the constitution and was given to us, the few powers we have as councillors we should be using, if I’m around and re-elected for the next Presidential Election, the lessons have to be learned from this mess and it was a mess, even if seven candidates were on ballot paper Catherine Connolly would probably have won anyway. People would have choice. I felt sorry for Maria Steen, she had 18 nominations from Oireachtas members and she was just short two, Micheál Martin and Simon Harris should have rang her up and nominated her to get on the ticket, her transfers could have elected either a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael candidate, I was elected myself in the Kilrush LEA with thirteen people running from different backgrounds, people had a choice, I was never afraid of a big ballot, the more the merrier. Ireland has changed, we’ve one million people living here that weren’t born here, the demographics have to be accommodated on a ballot paper, we can’t limit it down to one or two candidates”.
Sidelining the grassroots was a mistake, Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) outlined. “First of all, I’d have preferred if the grassroots had a say, at least the councillors, Senators, Oireachtas members should have had a say on potential candidates, from the get go that was the wrong move”. He had canvassed for Gavin on the day he withdrew. “Everyone was extremely polite to us when we canvassed, they know you as the local public representative, there is no doubt in my mind that the issue of a rent and tenant which didn’t go down well with people naturally enough, I had to agree with the people. Due diligence wasn’t done correctly and it has backfired, I hope lessons will be learned”.
Candidate selection needs to be examined by the party, Cllr David Griffin (FF) affirmed. “First and foremost the process for selecting the candidate highlighted a lot of flaws, we need to start looking at how we start selecting candidates and putting a formal process in place. There wasn’t a transparent process, if you want to run for the County Council you have to go through a selection convention and get five nominations, it is very open and it would have helped to follow a similar procedure”.
