Senators plotting against Chambers after vote debacle
A GROUP of Fianna Fáil senators are said to be privately plotting to remove the leader of their party in the upper house, Lisa Chambers.
Mayo senator Ms Chambers became embroiled in controversy this week after our sister paper, the Irish Daily Mail, published images of her canvassing for a Yes/Yes vote in last week’s referendums, despite her public claims that she was not involved in her party’s campaign.
The incident has thrown her candidacy to become a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in June into doubt. And the Irish Mail on Sunday has learned some of her own party colleagues are now canvassing against her.
Independent senator Gerard Craughwell said he has received calls from several Fianna Fáil senators to table a vote of no confidence in Ms Chambers.
He told the MoS: ‘I’ve been getting calls asking me to table a no-confidence motion in the leader of the Seanad.’ But he added: ‘I’m wondering, if people feel this bad about it, why not let their own party resolve this?’
He warned: ‘We won’t do Fianna Fáil’s dirty work for them. Let them sort out their own problems among themselves. The same applies, by the way, to Fine Gael and the Greens.’
Another Independent senator told the MoS: ‘There were calls and discreet inquiries this week. Fellows were on manoeuvres, mooching around, making suggestions. They sense the opportunity for promotion and preferment.’
If Ms Chambers becomes the first political casualty of last week’s crushing referendum defeats, it will deal a significant blow to Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
One Fianna Fáil source said: ‘Lisa is the apple of Micheál Martin’s eye; it will not look good if she has to go, and as an MEP candidate she will be a lame duck… if she isn’t already that.’
Ms Chambers’s role in the Seanad is to order the business of the House and respond to members in a similar way to the Taoiseach in the Dáil.
Unlike the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad, who is elected by the members, the Seanad leader is appointed by the taoiseach of the day.
The position comes with an allowance of €24,100 on top of the basic senator’s salary of €76,329.
It also offers Ms Chambers a platform to build up her national profile as she pursues a lucrative position in Europe.
Ms Chambers is competing with high profile Fianna Fáil figures such as Laois-Offaly TD Barry Cowen and Donegal senator Niall Blaney to win a seat in the European Parliament.
However, the Castlebar senator is already struggling to regain the confidence of her Fine Gael ‘partners’ following a searing attack by Senator Mary SeeryKearney after Ms Chambers claimed she voted No because ‘it didn’t sit right with me.
‘My gut told me that it wasn’t the right move.’
Senator Seery-Kearney said of her Government colleague’s comments: ‘It’s populist, it’s hypocritical.
‘I wouldn’t dream of walking into a polling booth and voting against what I advocated for.’
Fine Gael’s deputy leader in the Seanad, Regina Doherty, who is also contesting the European elections in June, added: ‘If she changed her mind, she should have told us on the day or the day before [the referendums]. Afterwards, it looks like you’re disingenuous.’
And in what appeared to be a concerted attack, several Fine Gael sources who spoke to the MoS this weekend warned: ‘The Tánaiste really needs to get a handle on the situation now.’