Senior Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness has said the party needs new leadership and a new direction.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is facing renewed backbench unrest following a destabilising week of protests and the resignation of former Independent minister Michael Healy-Rae.
“We need new leadership, quite frankly,” McGuinness said on Thursday.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD was speaking after a statement was issued by the party’s three youngest TDs criticising Fianna Fáil’s direction. The TDs – Cork East’s James O’Connor, Galway East’s Albert Dolan and Tipperary North’s Ryan O’Meara – noted their “real and deep concern” about the Government’s response to the fuel price protests. It is understood the Taoiseach met O’Connor, Dolan and O’Meara on Wednesday night.
Following the release of the statement, the three TDs were backed by former ceann comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who said a discussion on the future of the party, including the issue of leadership, should be held within the next fortnight.
Speaking on Newstalk’s Claire Byrne show on Thursday, McGuinness said: “We need a new direction focused on the social issues of our day and based on the old values of the Fianna Fáil party, which essentially means you listen to the people, you examine their issues, and you then try to assist them by way of maybe the budget or some other measures that will support them.
“But you don’t leave marginalised and older people cold in their homes because of the cost of heating oil. That would not have happened in the past.”
McGuinness said the parliamentary party should meet to discuss what had happened over the past few weeks.
“We need to look at the policies and how we presented ourselves. We failed the public, we failed the protesters, and the language used to describe them as far-left and far-right was simply not acceptable,” he said.
“I was on that protest and I met many community leaders, businesses whose backs are to the wall, and who wanted support from the Government, understanding from Government, and [the parliamentary party] was not given the opportunity to have a direct input into how matters were dealt with.”
Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness. Photograph: Tom Honan
McGuinness said since Martin became leader in 2011, there had been a “growing centralised administration, where decisions are taken, and then where the parliamentary party is told about those decisions”.
“That is not the way democracy works, and it’s not the way a party should work,” he said.
“I’ve spoken about this for years, and it’s not acceptable. Now the younger members of the parliamentary party are saying the same thing that I would have said over the last 10 years.”
Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú said a change of party leadership “is the last thing we need”.
“We don’t need a heave,” she said.
However, she told RTÉ radio’s Today with David McCullagh show there was a need for a “meaningful change” in the methods of communications within the party.
“I think it’s time for change and quick change but I don’t mean change in terms of the leadership. I haven’t lost confidence in Micheál Martin but there’s room for improvement and more so now because we’ve had it before over the presidential debacle and we now see it again,” she said.
“So I want to see change. I share the views of those three young gentlemen that I admire so deeply. We’re lucky to have the talent in the party. We need more of them and by the way we need more women as well, young women particularly,” she said.
“But I do think that the message was mixed and uncertain last week and of course uncertainty spreads like a virus faster than the problem itself and when leaders don’t talk and communicate decisively then people assume the worst.”
Earlier, Wicklow-Wexford Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne said he had not signed and would not be signing any motion of no confidence in Martin’s leadership.
Byrne told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that “in hindsight” the Government could have done things differently during the fuel protests.
The Taoiseach understood the pain and pressure that people were facing, he said.
“I think in terms of the tone from, and I certainly don’t want to personalise it, but the Taoiseach and some of the Ministers, I think it could have been a case of more empathy being shown and more understanding, because I do know that they get it.”
Byrne said there were times when he gets “really annoyed” about being sent Government statements and told to deliver a message that he had not had any input into.
He said “some of the tone and some of the language that was used last week didn’t help matters”.
Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
When asked if Martin should resign as leader, Byrne said the Taoiseach was an experienced and skilled politician who had represented the party and country well on the international stage. He would know when it was time to go.
Éamon Ó Cuív. Photograph: Eric Luke
Former Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív said the fuel protests must make the party “sit up” and realise how out of touch it is with the public.
He told Newstalk Breakfast politics has changed, but that the party had not “compensated” for those changes in terms of its structures.
Ó Cuív, who represented Galway West in the Dáil for more than three decades, said the party was much more of a “movement” when he started out in politics, meaning he received “constant feedback” about policy and local issues.
“In my constituency, there would have been 80 or 90 cumainn, depending on the size of the constituency at various times. And they were a great sounding board, and they left you in no doubt as to what their views were – and they represented a wide swathe of local communities,” he said.
“I think it is fair to say that politics has changed, but we haven’t compensated for those changes in terms of the structures.”
When asked about the recent fuel protests Ó Cuív said many participants had “never been involved in a protest in their life”. Most were “really hardworking people” who were struggling to do their jobs, he said.
On the issue of Martin’s leadership of Fianna Fáil, Ó Cuív said he would not seek to advise the parliamentary party, but described debate as a “healthy” thing.
“There is a wider issue, of course, about the organisation of the party and whether it is possible to create a new form of communications that means that you are getting the feedback from the ground.
“Because I’ve never seen in my time in politics – and I’ve been through an awful lot – I was through the whole downturn as a minister, but I never saw such a concentrated, continuous protest among middle Ireland. And I think that is what must make us sit up.”
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