A f ight for fairness
The Battle of Blackrock proved the party’s old guard won’t yield power without a f ight ...but ambitious youngsters like Kate Feeney are more than happy to oblige them
WHEN she walks into The Gables restaurant in affluent Foxrock, Kate Feeney screams ‘south county professional’ in her navy trouser suit, matching handbag, pink blouse, nude heels and layered blonde hair.
She works in an accountancy firm next door, though the 28year-old Sligo woman is best known for what in the recent local elections was dubbed the Battle for Blackrock.
The Ógra Fianna Fáil national president was the only Fianna Fáil candidate running in the ward until party secretary Seán Dorgan asked veteran Mary Hanafin to put her name forward late in the race.
But when Feeney had a word in party leader Micheál Martin’s ear (she denies it was a hissy fit) he changed his mind and told Hanafin to bow out or face a disciplinary hearing. Hanafin defied him and romped home in second place on the first count. Feeney took the third seat on the fifth count.
Though the party won two seats when it had expected only one, it was a PR disaster that made Martin look weak and his party divided.
And you can only imagine the bristling tension between the two women at upcoming council meetings.Won’t it be difficult to work together? ‘No, not at all,’ says Feeney. ‘ I certainly wouldn’t find it difficult. I think it’s incumbent on everyone to make the best effort to work with everyone else who has been elected on behalf of the residents of Blackrock.’
One gets the feeling that at least part of Feeney’s problem with Hanafin, a former minister under the tainted Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen administrations, is what she represents.
Last year Feeney was elected the first female Ógra president. She is the shiniest example of what she calls ‘new generation Fianna Fáil’ – young bloods trying to rebuild the party from the rubble of the 2011 general election.
‘It’s important for me that party rules are upheld and that processes are followed – particularly from an Ógra point of view because the party has come a long way in the last couple of years in regard to openness and transparency.
‘I would like to see the party becoming even more democratic. When you have processes in place, it’s important that they’re adhered to.’
So Hanafin was thinking just of herself and not of the party?
‘That’s not what I’m saying,’ she says carefully. ‘But as a candidate, I was aware that the party could ask
‘It’s imortant that party rules are upheld and procedures are followed’
me to withdraw at any point. Had that been the case, as a member of the party, you’re bound by the rules and regulations or you face disciplinary measures.
‘I was always aware that the party and the national constituencies committee could ask me to withdraw my nomination at any time. That was something I signed up to. I went through a selection convention and I signed a pledge,’ she says.
‘It’s part of running for a party that there has to be a larger viewpoint and a high level viewpoint on these things.’
Kate was speaking earlier this week before the announcement on Thursday that Hanafin had been cleared. At that point, she had not spoken to Hanafin since before the election nor heard anything on the progress of the inquiry.
‘Micheál Martin clearly stated that there would be a disciplinary hearing and it would be a big row back for him if there weren’t to be a hearing,’ she said firmly, warning her party leader that he had better not put it on the long finger, either.
‘If I was awaiting a hearing, I think I’d prefer it to be heard sooner rather than later so that I could put my case forward and clear my name or take my punishment as the case may be. I think, in the interests of the party, it has to be as swift as possible.’
In fact, Fianna Fáil’s rules and procedures committee met on Wednesday night and while expressing its ‘disappointment’ at Hanafin’s behaviour, decided against a disciplinary hearing – a hearing Feeney had vociferously demanded. How did she feel now?
‘I wasn’t surprised. I’m glad they did meet and I respect their decision. It was only right and proper that they had that meeting because there were issues which, unfortunately for the party, were played out in public. But I respect the decision and I look forward to working together in the future,’ she said.
Hanafin herself said it was no more than she’d expected: ‘I got a call on Wednesday afternoon from a party representative saying no action was being taken and congratulations.’
She said she felt ‘vindicated’ and would ‘let bygones be bygones’. Of course, there are those who believe Hanafin was right to run, given she had been