MARTIN’S LOYALISTS HIT BACK AT REBELS
Inf luential ministers insist Taoiseach will lead FF into election, and blast party rebels behind ‘soap-opera’ split
THE stage is set for a divisive Fianna Fáil leadership showdown after three of the party’s ministers publicly backed Micheál Martin to continue as party leader after the next general election.
In a significant boost to the Taoiseach, Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue,
Education Minister Norma Foley and influential Junior Minister Niall Collins – who described recent party efforts to undermine the leader as a ‘soap opera’ – all declared to the Irish Mail on Sunday their support for Mr Martin, who is due to rotate roles with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in December.
Mr Martin’s leadership came under intense scrutiny after last month’s meeting of 30 backbench TDs and senators
while he was in Ukraine. Party rebels have indicated they will move against Mr Martin in the autumn unless he announces his intention to stand down. A significant number of Fianna Fáil TDs who spoke to the Irish Mail on Sunday last month threatened not to vote for Mr Varadkar as Taoiseach if Mr Martin refuses to stand aside, a move that could collapse the Coalition and trigger a general election.
In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mr McConalogue gave the strongest public declaration of support to the Fianna Fáil leader in recent months.
‘The Taoiseach should, and will transition to being Tánaiste at the end of the year,’ he said.
Although the Donegal TD faces a battle to hang onto his seat, he insisted Mr Martin ‘has proven himself to be an excellent Taoiseach and has led the country with courage and distinction through Covid-19, the continuation of Brexit and the illegal war in Ukraine’.
He added: ‘The Taoiseach is best placed to lead the party into the next general election and, should he decide to do so, I will continue to back him.’
Norma Foley, who was appointed as a senior minister on her first day as a Dáil TD by Mr Martin, also issued a strong declaration of support for her leader.
She told the MoS: ‘Micheál is a very experienced, solution-focused leader who has successfully steered the country through a pandemic.
‘We already see the benefit of that in Government, we also see the benefit of that in Fianna Fáil. I have also seen first-hand the warmth of the reception, acknowledgement and appreciation he receives from the general public when he is out and about in a constituency.’
The Kerry TD added: ‘I am confident he is the right person to lead our party and our country.
‘The country continues to face significant challenges, whether that is through the recent rise in inflation or the war in Ukraine. The Taoiseach remains focused on continuing to meet these issues and any others head-on.’
Mr Martin was also backed by Minister Niall Collins, who hit out at what he described as the ‘soap opera’ surrounding the party’s leadership in recent weeks.
He launched a stinging attack on ‘utterly selfindulgent’ colleagues he accused of damaging the party and the Coalition.
The Limerick TD told the MoS: ‘Some people in the parliamentary party need to start believing in the party and Fianna Fáil rather than eternally denigrating the party and, by extension, the Government.
‘The people expect us to govern and to sort out their problems rather than engage in a permanent adolescent soap opera.’
Mr Collins was speaking after Kerry-based Fianna Fáil Senator Ned O’Sullivan wrote to fellow parliamentary party members this week criticising internal sniping at Mr Martin.
‘Constant leaking and drip-feeding to the press from members regarding party matters in general and the leader, in particular, is a major cause of worry.’
Mr O’Sullivan said the sniping is ‘damaging our prospects for the next general election’ and described Mr Martin as ‘the most popular politician in the land’.
He added: ‘I believe we need him to lead us into the next general election. The seats of many backbenchers will not be secured without him.’
Mr O’Sullivan claims party councillors are ‘particularly upset and concerned’ at TDs making noises against the leader, as at a recent impromptu parliamentary party meeting when the Taoiseach was on business abroad.
‘I believe that the image of Fianna Fáil as a united, cohesive force, which has always been our trademark, is being seriously eroded,’ he told colleagues, adding that the issue of undermining the leader should be addressed as a priority.
However, opponents of Mr Martin dismissed Mr O’Sullivan’s letter, with a senior party figure drily noting: ‘It must have come as a terrible shock that a carefully crafted letter sent to more than 50 Fianna Fáil TDs and senators leaked.’
Another party rebel said: ‘You really don’t expect me to seriously comment on a letter by Ned O’Sullivan?’
And despite the show of support for Mr Martin from party heavyweights, Fianna Fáil rebels insisted this weekend that the Taoiseach is on borrowed time.
One senior party figure told the MoS: ‘His lease is temporary, all his power to give and withhold jobs goes in January. After the reshuffle, everyone’s attention will turn. Among the ministers [it will be] as to who will save their seats, and among those who are not ministers [it will turn] to who might make them ministers.’
‘Engaged in a permanent adolescent soap opera’
And they predicted: ‘Micheál’s main job will be to try to exit with a bit of dignity.’
Another opponent of Mr Martin dismissed the popularity argument put forward by his supporters.
‘The hierarchy is using Micheál’s popularity in the polls to claim he should stay,’ they said.
‘Half of those voters are Fine Gael supporters and I suspect a few Sinn Féin voters select him too to keep him there – it’s a myth.’
Another party rebel said: ‘He’s cooked. There is a recession coming to beat all recessions and popularity won’t last too long there.’
As the leadership showdown looms, Fianna Fáil sources said various contenders who hope to replace Mr Martin are ‘starting to gear up’.
One party grandee said: [Dublin Bay South TD] Jim O’Callaghan is on a nationwide tour at the moment. It’s like Haughey and PJ Mara in the 1970s, except we suspect that Big Jim doesn’t have a Mara and he’s probably dining on better fare than chicken and chips.
‘There’s hardly a constituency O’Callaghan hasn’t been in, but it’s noticeable [influential Laois-Offaly TD] Barry [Cowen] isn’t linked as closely with him as before. Maybe Barry has higher ambitions too.’
They added: ‘If Big Jim isn’t careful, he could end up being a stalking horse rather than the main event.’
Intriguingly, within Fianna Fáil, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is also being discussed as a potential leadership contender.
One senior Fianna Fáil figure told the MoS: ‘He isn’t, put bluntly, in the first rank of the intellectuals but he is busy, he has energy, and he knows how to talk the talk and walk the walk.
‘Housing is a dog of a ministry, but he is opening things and he chopped up [Sinn Féin housing spokesman] Eoin Ó Broin in the Prime Time debate. It took Sinn
‘All his power to give jobs goes in January’
Féin’s top intellectual a month to recover after that.’
Outside of Mr Cowen, Mr O’Callaghan and Mr O’Brien, the other two leadership contenders, are believed to be Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath and Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers.