Martin’s fury at referendum ‘treachery’ but his protégée is still defiant
Fianna Fáil turmoil as No campaigners ‘face electoral sabotage’ – but insist they won’t accept liberal abortion regime
THE fallout in Fianna Fáil over the strong referendum Yes vote is leading to open warfare between TDs, and even threats of general election sabotage for a deputy who was once one of Micheál Martin’s most promising protégées.
Members who took the No side have made it clear to the Irish Mail on Sunday that they are not going to quietly accept liberal abortion legislation.
The tensions emerged as the Mo S learned that deputies who organised the high-profile No campaign will lose party support during the next election.
Plans are already under way to add a candidate alongside Deputy Mary Butler to the party ticket in Waterford, after her
Cowen’s call for whip on abortion was ‘unhelpful’
role in helping organise the No campaign. A Waterford City candidate would damage her chances of being re-elected.
‘Mary Butler was so extreme, Mary Butler f***ed us. F***ed the party’s ability to show that we were representative. Fine Gael played it far, far cuter, far more disciplined. They learned from Sinn Féin in that perspective,’ said a senior party source with influence on the leadership. Our No crowd were more vociferous.’
But Ms Butler was critical of senior party spokesman Barry Cowen’s comments at last week’s parliamentary party. He is believed to have demanded the party whip be imposed on all members for votes on the upcoming abortion legislation. Limerick deputy Niall Collins backed the call.
Ms Butler says she will accept any running mate added to her ticket but is not shying away from her campaign against abortion-ondemand and wants to see many clarifications in the legislation.
‘There are tensions there and I think they were highlighted at the parliamentary party meeting,’ she said yesterday. ‘Micheál is leader, I had no problem with what he had to say. But I think Barry Cowen’s comments were unhelpful.’ She said a lot of colleagues agreed with her.
She added that it was time to build bridges and insisted: ‘I articulated the No side very strongly. I fundamentally believed in what I was campaigning for, this was never about me or Micheál Martin.’ The leadership also complains that she held meetings in her Leinster House office to discuss co-ordinating the No campaign but she says they weren’t official meetings. She said: ‘I would have discussed with likeminded colleagues, in my office. At any one time there might have been one, two or three people there. It was never a formal meeting per se. It was just conversation about how the campaign was developing and about the proposed legislation.’
On the talk about another party candidate in Waterford, she said: ‘That conversation has been going on since 2016. There would have been calls for two candidates in 2016 and again in 2018, at my convention in March. I don’t think that has to do with the referendum.’ Party sources proposed Cllr Eddie Mulligan as the second Fianna Fáil candidate for Waterford City.
Parliamentary party members
‘Exit polls showed 50% of FF voters voted No’
were given a free vote on abortion but some say the vociferous No campaign undermined Mr Martin.
Yes campaigners in the party also complain about a picture Ms Butler organised showing 31 Fianna Fáil TDs and senators with her at the centre holding a No sign. They refer to it as ‘the Boko Haram photograph’.
Cannier political operators such as Thomas Byrne, Darragh O’Brien and Willie O’Dea, who were all No campaigners, stayed away but the leadership is particularly upset that deputy leader Dara Calleary, finance spokesman Michael McGrath and former chief whip John Curran posed for it.
Fianna Fáil strategists say 31 Fine Gael parliamentary party members were either No voters or did not declare. Defence Minister Paul Kehoe has still not declared his position while two other ministers, John Paul Phelan and Ciaran Cannon were in a ‘cross-party photo’ with Rónán Mullen, Mattie McGrath and Senator Paul Coghlan (FG). But they were not so high profile. A senior leadership figure said last night: ‘I believe about half a dozen of our crowd believed there shouldn’t be abortion under any circumstances. The rest were doing it for electoral reasons or anti-Micheál Martin reasons. A few of them were doing it for devilment.’ The insider said the photo – that featured five women including Niamh Smyth, Margaret Mary O’Mahony and Ms Butler at the centre – ‘is one of the greatest errors I’ve seen and it will haunt their careers’.
But Ms Butler said: ‘No, I don’t regret it.’ And added: ‘What spurred me on to do that photograph was I was contacted by so many, and I mean numerous, Fianna Fáil grassroots who wanted to know who was supporting the No vote. As we know from the exit polls 50% of Fianna Fáil supporters voted No. They were entitled to know where they stood.’ She and her No colleagues still have concerns about the forthcoming abortion legislation.
And she is concerned that antiabortion GPs may be forced to be part of an abortion regime. She would like to see something concrete in relation to disabilities in the womb.