Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he was made aware of a potential issue between Jim Gavin and a former tenant, before Mr Gavin was selected as Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate.
Mr Gavin beat MEP Billy Kelleher in a selection vote, but later dropped out of the race after it emerged he owed a former tenant more than €3,000.
Speaking after the release of Fianna Fáil’s review into the presidential campaign, Mr Martin said that on 5 September, his advisor Deirdre Gillane received a phone call from the Irish Independent’s Fionnán Sheehan, who asked whether the party had done their due diligence and if they knew anything about a tenant dispute with Mr Gavin.
According to Mr Martin, Ms Gillane told him and Seán Dorgan, Fianna Fáil’s General Secretary, who then put it to Mr Gavin.
Mr Martin said that Mr Gavin told Mr Dorgan: “No there’s no issue with a tenant, I never had an issue with a tenant.”
“That was it,” Mr Martin added.
However, the Taoiseach insisted that nobody was aware of the money owed at this stage.
“It was a query, and it was nothing near what subsequently emerged.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today With David McCullagh, Mr Martin said he then again heard about the issue between Mr Gavin and the tenant, who was a journalist, the day before Mr Gavin was selected as the party’s candidate on 9 September.
However, he said there were “lots of rumours going on at that stage about everybody, including Jim Gavin”.
“This query came in, it was put to Jim Gavin, and he said ‘no, there’s no issue’.”
Fianna Fáil review sent to Gavin’s lawyers
Mr Martin said there was no public record or court record available for anyone to confirm the existence of the dispute, and that the only way for anyone to be aware of it was through a primary source, be it the tenant or Mr Gavin.
“He was very categoric that there was no issue, and he said he never had a journalist as a tenant even. That was his recollection. He might not have been aware the person was a journalist.”
Mr Martin confirmed that the Fianna Fáil report was sent to Mr Gavin’s lawyers, but that his understanding was that no substantive changes were made, bar some personal details that may have been taken out.
Mr Martin has said he has accepted “we didn’t get this right”, about the process to select Mr Gavin as the party’s presidential candidate and that he has “taken full responsibility for that”.
Mr Martin said: “Jim Gavin came to the table with very significant strengths”.
When asked why he only had one meeting with Mr Gavin prior to his selection as candidate Mr Martin said he had also met him at an event Mr Gavin had chaired.
He said: “I actually did a lot of informal sounding-out of people who’d worked with him”, adding he got “very little negative feedback about Jim Gavin”.
The Taoiseach said: “Our process is not correct” and “we did nothing different to what happened in ’97 and 1990, but it’s not a good process”.
He also said “there should be certain deadlines set” in future.
Mr Martin said that the other potential candidates that Fianna Fáil tested in polling were not at the level required to go forward.
He added that he only had one meeting with Mr Gavin “in the context of the president” but he had met the former Dublin GAA manager prior to that.
Micheál Martin (L) and Jim Gavin
“I would have attended an event in the North East Inner City, for example, where he chaired and we had a very, very enjoyable event.
“I hadn’t contemplated him being President or anything like that, but the affection there for him was quite evident and, again, the feedback was a very capable individual,” Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach added that the one meeting he had with Mr Gavin about the presidency was “a long couple of hours on it, discussed going through it, at that stage, he wasn’t committed at that stage”.
“I said I thought he would have a very good chance … I also went through the pressures and the stresses and the challenges and how it could go wrong and went through all of that and he wanted to discuss it further with his family.
“At that stage, we had tested other candidates in polling terms who, quite frankly, wouldn’t have been at the level that would have been required.
“And again, the ultimate test was people had to go before the parliamentary party.
“But at that stage, you know, when I was talking to him in July, I didn’t have other candidates really on the field.”
‘We didn’t have other candidates that had a chance’
Mr Martin said that polling suggested Mr Gavin was the only potential Fianna Fáil candidate that could win and that he had received no indication from Mr Kelleher that he wanted to be a presidential election candidate until late August.
“We didn’t have other candidates that had a chance, let’s be frank, that’s the reality … people should put their hands up if they want to be candidates much earlier.”
Mr Martin said he accepted “full responsibility” for the failed campaign but said he would not be putting down a motion of confidence in himself for the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party.
“I don’t believe I need to… at all,” he said.
“I’ve had substantial engagement with TDs and senators over the past two months. This was a major, major setback, a devastating outcome for the party.
“I didn’t want this and I’ve made it very clear, I take full responsibility, I’m sorry for what happened and I said this to the party membership.
“Everyone acted in good faith here; we wanted to win the election.
“The previous year we won the general election; we were the largest party in the local elections.”
‘We can’t draw a line in the sand having expended €400,000’ – Gallagher
A former Fianna Fáil minister has said that the controversy is not over and that questions remain to be answered.
Donegal TD Pat The Cope Gallagher said Fianna Fáil had to learn that nobody in the party is infallible although he said that impression had been given in recent weeks.
“I said very clearly last night that this was not the end of it. We can’t draw a line in the sand having expended €400,000 and expecting our organisation to provide those funds over the years.”
Mr Gallagher also questioned how Mr Martin could decided on the candidacy of Jim Gavin after just one meeting with him.
“How could anyone decide in that short time that that was the person to garner enough votes across the country to win?”
A ‘gross mistake’ but not a resigning matter for Taoiseach – Ní Mhurchú
Cynthia Ní Mhurchú
Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who said she had contacted Mr Martin seeking the nomination before Mr Gavin was selected, said in a statement that the review was “unsatisfactory and a missed opportunity to fully place the facts on the public record”.
While acknowledging that no public records existed to document the dispute, Ms Ní Mhurchú said the party could and should have pursued the matter more robustly. She said that it was a “gross mistake”, but did not feel it was a resigning matter for the Taoiseach.
Ms Ní Mhurchú said that “strengthening procedures to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated in the future should now be a key priority for the party leadership”
“The grassroots were deeply upset by this episode. Rebuilding trust will take time, but decision-making must be shaped more by members and carried out by leadership, not imposed from the top down.”
Fianna Fáil ‘damaged’ – McGrath
Séamus McGrath said it was time for Fianna Fáil to move on from the election debacle
Earlier, a Fianna Fáil TD said Mr Martin’s leadership of the party was secure after the review of the party’s selection of Mr Gavin as its candidate was released to parliamentary party members.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Cork South-Central TD Séamus McGrath said Fianna Fáil was “damaged” from the debacle but can recover.
He said it was time for Fianna Fáil to draw a line under the episode and move on.
Speaking on the same programme, Minister of State for European Affairs and Fianna Fáil TD Thomas Byrne said the party was relying on what Mr Gavin said regarding the issue with a tenant and there were no public records available to check.
“There were, as part of the due diligence and is stated in the report, that there were searches done on public records and that’s standard.
“But public records wouldn’t have any of this information, you are relying on the candidate,” Mr Byrne said.
Mr Byrne said “lots of questions” were coming into the party at the time of the media queries about an unpaid refund on rent to the tenant.
“There were other issues which were being played out on social media at the time, completely false allegations about Jim Gavin.
“And that’s the context that we’re in. You ask the candidate, you do your due diligence. That’s what’s happened,” he said.