Why are some at Fianna Fáil unhappy with Micheál Martin?



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Late on Tuesday night, around 10 TDs from Fianna Fáil, mostly elected to the Dáil for the first time last February, gathered in a corner of the Leinster House canteen.

Dublin TDs Paul McAuliffe and Cormac Devlin were there. So were James O’Connor from Cork East, Cathal Crowe from Clare and Joe Flaherty from Longford-Westmeath.

Galway East Deputy Minister Anne Rabbitte, one who had hopes of occupying a higher position when the government was finally formed, joined the group.

It had been a bad day for the government and a sad day for Fianna Fáil. The launch of the Covid-19 medium-term plan had severely regressed with repeated “Level 2.5” taunts throughout the day.

This was followed by Stephen Donnelly’s Covid-19 scare that closed the Dáil for a few hours. Later, Taoiseach Micheál Martin had had an irritable interview on RTÉ’s Six-One News.

If that wasn’t enough, Galway West TD Éamon Ó Cuív had publicly called for Micheál Martin to be replaced, sparked by yet another terrible opinion poll for the party.

The conversation in the canteen that followed was informal. Inevitably, however, he focused on the events of the day and the blows received by the Taoiseach and Stephen Donnelly.

Some of those present were loyal to Martin. Others are not fanatics. Quickly, the conversation turned to the blanket of negativity surrounding Fianna Fáil, and why it is Fianna Fáil rather than Fine Gael who bears the blame for every government mishap.

Some members of the group complained that the public opinion of Fianna Fáil’s back benches comes from a small handful of vocal critics, such as Ó Cuív, Marc MacSharry and John McGuinness.

“There was a lot of annoyance that we allowed a small group of people to give the impression that we were all unhappy,” said a TD. Several at the canteen meeting gave notice that they would speak at the Parliamentary Party meeting on Wednesday. What did you do.

Negativity

There, Christopher O’Sullivan of Cork South West said the negativity was “disgusting”, while McAuliffe said the snipers had to stop. Cathal Crowe said some TDs are using the weekly meeting to “settle scores.”

Also joining were some who were not present at the cantina conversation, including Senators Lisa Chambers, Fiona O’Loughlin and Ned O’Sullivan and Kildare TD James Lawless.

After weeks of relentless leaks that affected party morale, this was seen as a backlash. However, it was more complex than Martin loyalists to return service.

In reality, criticism of Martin, and especially of his leadership style, is widespread within the Parliamentary Party and other ranks of the Fianna Fáil, and the new TDs in particular feel ignored.

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