Even the vultures didn’t turn up to savage Micheál
Ard Fheis missing the old FF f izz, and lots of delegates
IF MICHEÁL MARTIN wanted to quieten the vultures circling above his leadership, he needed to seize his party by the scruff of the neck and lead it into modernity in his first – and possibly only – Ard Fheis speech as Taoiseach.
But he didn’t.
Instead, a leader on a dwindling lease turned backwards to speak of past memories of the Civil War and a past ‘great generation… determined that Ireland would stand proudly amongst the democratic nations of the world’.
It would have been an interesting speech for the AGM of some local historical association. But this was not the oration to lead a becalmed political party out of the marshes of spite it currently resides in.
And a post-Budget vignette indicates just how much Fianna Fáil is a family at war.
When Micheál graced the private Dáil Members Bar on Tuesday he was surrounded by a small group of ministerial acolytes (rumour has it the celebrations even extended to the Taoiseach buying a round).
One acute observer noted different members of the FF rebel faction walked in, glared at the celebrating ones and stalked back out to the public bar.
The new Fianna Fáil family-atwar brand of politics meant there was no shortage of Hunter S Thompson-style ‘fear and loathing’ predictions about this weekend’s Ard Fhéis.
Instead, it bore a closer resemblance to a pleasant country wedding with a touch of Father Ted madness thrown in.
The clientele consisted of a smattering of lovely girls, couples with prams and newly minted babies but with the clear majority being the sort of elderly aunts and uncles who are invited to the wedding to keep the drinks bill down.
As with any country wedding, those attending are always looking hungrily for signs of incipient troubles between the ‘loving’ duo or their families.
In our case, the designated symptoms were empty seats and the mischief-making four factions of Fianna Fáil.
The latter consist of the Barry Cowen Country & Western believers; the Peoples’ Front of Fingal (Darragh O’Brien), Jim O’Callaghan representing the posh wing of the party, and the ‘A.N. Other’ group consisting of Dara Calleary, Jack Chambers and Michael McGrath.
Although the last group is not openly campaigning, if Micheál is in political quicksand he’d be advised not to put out a hand seeking to be rescued lest they ‘accidentally’ stand on his head.
As it happens, the vultures waiting to feast on Micheál didn’t turn up… not even to the empty bars surrounding the RDS.
At a Micheál Martin Ard Fheis, the old Fianna Fáil fizz is missing to such an extent that even the bars are desolate.
The mood surrounding the becalmed weekend of the Fianna Fáil lost was set on Friday evening when, for an unnerving minute, there appeared to be more media than delegates.
And there weren’t that many journalists present either.
Despite the many empty seats, the party is not without its faithful.
Long suffering party general secretary
Seán Dorgan attempted to rouse the troops with the ringing declaration in the three quarters empty RDS that, ‘There will be buses coming from all over the country tomorrow’.
Alas, that sentence had something of the desperate lost legions racing to rescue Berlin from the Russians in 1945.
At the opening of the Ard Fhéis, the greatest drama occurred when a soundcheck drowned out the leader’s remarks to the media.
One apparatchik snapped ‘for f***’s sake’ before heading off in pursuit of the errant sound engineer that he held responsible.
Afterwards, the mood was one of
‘FF rebels walked in, glared and stalked out’
He spoke of his ‘pride in the history of our party’
visible unease with modernity and of mild nostalgia for a better past.
Micheál, as with his final speech, spoke of his ‘deep pride in the history of our party [and] our great founding leader Éamon de Valera’.
A blast from the past in the form of the National question reared its head – with a rival conference across the capital on Irish unity.
The Fianna Fáil leader was believed to be less than happy with the decision of the putative leadership contender Jim O’Callaghan to speak at an ‘Ireland’s Future’ conference in the 3Arena at the same time the FF Ard Fheis was taking place. The fact that O’Callaghan chose the opportunity to declare an ambition to be Taoiseach of a united Ireland did nothing to relieve the tension in the RDS when the topic was raised.
One source said Ireland’s Future, chaired by Senator Frances Black, ‘is perceived [rightly or wrongly] to be very closely aligned to Sinn Féin’.
Mr Martin reacted very sharply at an internal Fianna Fáil meeting when he was asked would he speak at the conference.
One FF source said: ‘There wasn’t exactly a ban or fatwa put on attending but it was made pretty clear this was an act that would incur the Dear Leader’s displeasure.’ Instead, yesterday the Taoiseach attempted to rouse his own Soldiers of Destiny with a rallying cry.
‘Let no one be in any doubt where
‘The rallying call seemed more like a call to inertia’
Fianna Fáil stands – we believe in taking action,’ he declared, but it seemed more like a call to inertia judging by the bored expressions of the delegates in the hall.