Abortion stance may have cost me my seat
..and Micheál is the only option to lead FF, says Lisa
FIANNA Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers has attributed her stance on the abortion referendum as a contributory factor in her losing her Dáil seat in a ‘conservative constituency’.
Ms Chambers was elected to the Dáil as a TD for Mayo in 2016, taking the fourth and final seat.
However, she failed to hold the seat in the 2020 election despite being promoted to the frontbench as high-profile party spokeswoman on Brexit.
Ms Chambers was an active campaigner to repeal the Eighth Amendment, despite many of her party colleagues being hesitant to do so.
In an interview with broadcaster Seán O’Rourke as part of the Two Tribes series for RTÉ, Ms Chambers said a national campaign by the party and her position on the Eighth Amendment cost her politically.
She said: ‘I don’t think it was any one thing, we had a bad campaign nationally as a party. There was a massive swell in support for Sinn Féin that we hadn’t anticipated. I don’t think Sinn
Féin had anticipated it either. Maybe my position on the Eighth Amendment might have lost me some votes in what is a conservative constituency, particularly among Fianna Fáil voters.’
Mayo voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment by 57% to 42%, compared to the national average of 66% to 33%.
Ms Chambers added: ‘I don’t think it was any one thing, maybe a combination of things and we lost 16 TDs in that election so it was tough.’
Asked about the confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael prior to the election, Ms Chambers said she believed it went on for a year too long.
She added: ‘I think it sat differently with different people, there would be a view within the party that we had agreed to the first three years and that probably would have been the right time for an election and maybe extending it for that fourth year was the wrong decision for the party, even though I still believe it was the right decision for the country.’
Ms Chambers added that from a Fianna Fáil viewpoint ‘we strayed too long from the party’s perspective’.
Asked about a coalition with Sinn Féin, Ms Chambers said ‘that’s a possibility’ and that the party will discuss it after the next election based on the numbers.
She said: ‘No party will have a majority, that we can be sure of… it will be coalition governments from this point onwards.’
Ms Chambers added that the decision will be based on policy and that she doesn’t have a principled opposition to entering coalition with Sinn Féin.
She said: ‘We don’t have consensus on that. The party’s history, the way that it conducts itself in the Oireachtas wouldn’t be to my liking… how they run their own party is a matter for themselves.
‘I think there would be a lot more opposition to doing it actually. A lot of our members can very clearly remember the Troubles, are very aware of Sinn Féin’s history and I think would be upset at the prospect of that.
‘From my perspective, I don’t think it’s something we can rule out. It will be policy focused.’
Asked about who should lead the party into the next election she is unequivocal that Tánaiste Micheál Martin is the only option for the party.
‘He has been an incredible leader, he brought the party back from its lowest point in 2011. I think the Irish people like him.’
‘I believe it was the right decision’