Critical email came just days before the pinnacle of Fitzgerald’s career
JUST days before returning to Ireland and into a political storm, Frances Fitzgerald delivered a speech in Boston where she outlined what she believes to be the pinnacle of her career.
Speaking less than two weeks ago, she recalled being present in a Dublin Castle filled with rainbow flags and happiness on the day the marriage equality referendum had passed – May 23, 2015.
Ms Fitzgerald told her audience that as the then-justice minister she was responsible for the legislation that would bring in same-sex marriage, and “it was the best moment of my career”.
It is deeply ironic that the roots of Ms Fitzgerald’s resignation came earlier the same month when she received the now-infamous email relating to an entirely different part of her brief.
But it’s not terribly surprising that it was an issue relating to gardaí, and the seemingly endless spiral of controversies to hit the force, that led to her departure as tánaiste.
The May 15 email outlined a clash between legal teams for An Garda Síochána and whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe at the O’Higgins Commission.
Opposition calls for Ms Fitzgerald’s head began shortly after its existence became public a week and a half ago.
While insisting it would have been improper for her to intervene with Garda management on their legal strategy, and maintaining she did nothing wrong, Ms Fitzgerald announced her resignation to avoid an election.
She said she had decided to “put the national interest ahead of my own personal reputation”.
Ms Fitzgerald also said stepping down will allow her time to “vindicate my good name”.
That’s a reputation that was built up over more than a quarter of a century in politics, and prior to that as a social worker and women’s rights advocate.
Ms Fitzgerald (67), a mother of three adult sons, is married to TCD Professor Michael Fitzgerald, an expert in autism.
During her speech in Boston she spoke of her seven years working as a social worker in London from the late 1960s onwards.
She said she came home with “a sense of infinite possibility”, but returned to an Ireland dominated by the Church, where it was still illegal to be gay, and where contraception was available only on prescription.
She outlined how she joined the National Women’s Council and ended up as its chairperson.
“And then a political party asked me to run for parliament. I thought about it and said yes. I got elected, defeated, elected again,” she said, before going to say how she rose through the ranks to become tánaiste, pushing a message of “inclusion” throughout her career.
Ms Fitzgerald was first elected to the Dáil for Fine Gael in 1992.
At the weekend, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told a National Women’s Council of Ireland’s event how Ms Fitzgerald spoke “very eloquently” about the role of women in society, their right to work and education in her maiden Dáil speech.
Defending Ms Fitzgerald, he also said she was “someone who helped me to believe that I could be a leader”. Ms Fitzgerald failed to back John Bruton when his leadership was challenged in 1994, and never secured a ministerial post during the Rainbow Coalition.
Originally a TD for Dublin South-East, she lost her seat during Fine Gael’s election disaster in 2002. She moved constituency to Dublin Mid-West, where she failed to win a seat in 2007. But she took a Seanad seat and three years later backed thenleader Enda Kenny in Richard Bruton’s ill-fated heave.
Mr Kenny didn’t forget the support and he appointed her to Cabinet when she returned to the Dáil in 2011 as the first ever minister for children.
She was seen as a safe pair of hands at the Department of Justice after Alan Shatter was forced to go as minister in 2014. The whistleblower controversy rumbled on, and financial irregularities at the Garda Training College at Templemore, and the recording of bogus breath tests, blew up during her tenure. She was unwavering in her support for then-Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan.
Once considered a Fine Gael leadership contender herself, she decided against throwing her hat in the ring for the race to succeed Enda Kenny, and was one of Mr Varadkar’s most high-profile backers. He subsequently kept her on as tánaiste and appointed her as minister for business, enterprise and innovation, one of the ministers with a key role in preparing for Brexit.
Prior to her current difficulties, Ms Fitzgerald was often spoken of as the presidential candidate that could finally see Fine Gael win the presidency.
Ms Fitzgerald said stepping down will allow her time to vindicate her good name. Putting herself forward as a Fine Gael candidate for the Dáil in Dublin Mid-West last night, she clearly still has electoral ambitions. But Áras an Uachtaráin looks a long way away.