Harris must deliver victory for FG
Minister drafted in as director of elections for by-election, while FF and Greens face inf ighting
SIMON HARRIS has been charged with the task of holding Fine Gael’s seat in the politically problematic Dublin Bay South by-election.
The Higher Education Minister – regarded by many as a successor-inwaiting to party leader Leo Varadkar – has been appointed Fine Gael’s director of elections in the key byelection which is evolving into a critical test for the coalition parties.
If Fine Gael fails to retain its seat in the richest constituency in the country, it will also have consequences for the status of Mr Varadkar within an increasingly uneasy party.
One senior party source told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The appointment is a sign of real concern in the camp of Leo. When he is in the company of Simon, he resembles the sorcerer looking at a too-ambitious apprentice. But he obviously feels it’s a gamble he needs to take.’
One party veteran said a by-election win for the party’s candidate, barrister and Dublin City councillor James Geoghegan, would represent ‘a significant victory’, but for Mr Harris and not his party boss. They noted: ‘Leo is uneasy, his political antennae are up. He senses he needs a win. He is deploying the Harris card in the hope that Simon will reach the young people in a way he can’t.’
Another source warned: ‘All is not well in the court of Leo. That question from that woman [former constituency TD and outspoken critic of Mr Varadkar, Kate O’Connell] is still hanging over him: what have you done for Fine Gael?’
Other sources indicated Mr Harris may have a tough time engineering a win for Mr Geoghegan – who is the son of two Supreme Court judges. One said: ‘Simon will need all his wits about him. The candidate is a little high strung. He is quite needy and very aware of his pedigree. Supreme Court judge stock and all that.’
Another source said: ‘The candidate is too like Fine Gael for our own good. He is too male, too stale and too posh.’
High-profile TD and Leo loyalist Neale Richmond has been appointed Mr Harris’s deputy, with one senior figure warning: ‘He’s there to keep an eye on Simon.’
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil and the Greens are now struggling to avoid a meltdown amid infighting in both local ranks of the parties.
Within the Greens, the party is split between the camp of the leader and sitting Dublin Bay South TD Eamon Ryan, who favour local councillor Claire Byrne, and supporters of the electorally popular Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu.
One Green party figure told the MoS: ‘It is starting to look embarrassing now. The election is in July and we don’t have a candidate up and running. Or rather we have one with the biggest council vote in Ireland [Ms Chu] and she is being hobbled.’
Other sources within the party warned the leadership is ‘totally dislocated from reality’. One source said: ‘The party is more concerned about taking out Hazel than actually performing well.
‘But this is a double mantrap for Ryan. If Chu defeats Byrne, he has lost control of his party. If Byrne wins the nomination and gets a thousand votes in the leader’s own constituency we are in meltdown country.
‘Hazel is not going to give him what he wants. She is not going to go away you know. She knows the aim of the Ryan faction is to exile all opponents and leave [Green deputy leader] Catherine [Martin] on her own.’
Another source said: ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with Eamon. He used to be such a feminist, but he appears, in Government, to have difficulties with strong-willed independent women like Hazel, Saoirse [McHugh] and all the rest who have left.’
Unease is also growing within Fianna Fáil over the calibre of its candidate Deirdre Conroy. The architectural heritage specialist won the last council seat in Kimmage-Rathmines in 2019 with 1,065 votes. She subsequently ran for Fianna Fáil in DublinRathdown in the general election where she came 11th with 886 votes.
Sitting TD and potential leader-inwaiting Jim O’Callaghan is coming under increasing pressure to put in a strong performance in his home constituency. One party source said: ‘It appears to be the case that this is more about tamping down Big Jim than actually winning the thing. ‘This campaign is more about infighting and putting a bit of manners on the alternative leader. But they are in real danger of being too clever for their own good. If we are below 10% or tailed off from the field, it will provoke another bout of the jitters.’ The source added: ‘The sense is we are detached from the herd. Sinn Féin are waiting to feast on us. A bad result will set them mad.’
‘Leo senses that he needs a win’