{"id":131164,"date":"2025-11-09T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T22:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/131164\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T22:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T22:52:08","slug":"disappointment-within-fianna-fail-over-expected-delay-into-presidential-election-review-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/131164\/","title":{"rendered":"Disappointment within Fianna F\u00e1il over expected delay into presidential election review \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The expected delay in the review into Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a>\u2019s disastrous presidential election<\/a> has been met with disappointment by some within the party.<\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s candidate, former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin<\/a>, withdrew from election campaigning in early October after revelations that he owed a former tenant \u20ac3,300 in overpaid rent. Mr Gavin subsequently paid the tenant back.<\/p>\n

His name remained on the ballot paper and the Fianna F\u00e1il candidate got just 7.2 per cent of the vote.<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin was the preferred candidate of party leader and Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin. <\/p>\n

Critics in the party later accused the leadership of pressuring TDs and Senators to back Gavin over MEP Billy Kelleher, who went up against him in an internal contest to be the candidate.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Fianna F\u00e1il parlimentary party asked to take part in review of presidential election campaignOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Questions have been raised by some Fianna F\u00e1il politicians publicly and privately about Mr Martin\u2019s future as leader. <\/p>\n

After Mr Gavin halted his campaign Mr Martin used a contribution at a parliamentary party meeting to apologise for how things had turned out and acknowledge the \u201churt and shock\u201d of Fianna F\u00e1il members.<\/p>\n

A week later, on October 15th, the parliamentary party agreed the terms of reference of a review of the presidential election. The review was tasked with considering the candidate identification and selection process and the presidential election campaign itself.<\/p>\n

The review is chaired by barrister Ciar\u00e1n O\u2019Loughlin and its panel also includes TDs Eamon Scanlon and Tom Brabazon and Senator Margaret Murphy O\u2019Mahony.<\/p>\n

They were to report back by Wednesday November 12th, but it appears this target date will be missed. <\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il party whip, Minister of State Mary Butler, said over the weekend: \u201cThe independent review is ongoing and while the aim for publication was November 12th, the chairman and committee members must conduct an independent and fair process, which may take longer than originally planned.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt is most important that this review remains independent, as agreed by the Parliamentary Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to the expected delay, Fianna F\u00e1il TD John Lahart told The Irish Times: \u201cIt\u2019s a busy week for Government with the latest housing plans and we have the [presidential] inauguration also.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dublin South-West TD said: \u201cthe 12th of November was a commitment entered into and, while I\u2019m very disappointed at this delay, I\u2019d expect that every effort is being made by my party colleagues on the committee to avoid further delays. It\u2019s on the minds of all members and membership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Galway West TD John Connolly also said he is \u201cdisappointed\u201d at the delay and he thinks others are as well. <\/p>\n

He told RT\u00c9 Radio that after the election there was a sense in the party \u201cthat it would be in the best interests of everyone that this would be done in a thorough, transparent and timely manner and it\u2019s unfortunate that the first deadline set down will be missed\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said a new deadline should be set, \u201cbecause I don\u2019t think anybody is well served by this being dragged out\u201d.<\/p>\n

Minister of State Christopher O\u2019Sullivan said on RT\u00c9\u2019s The Week in Politics that there is \u201cembarrassment\u201d in the Fianna F\u00e1il party in relation to its presidential election bid and Mr Martin has acknowledged that \u201cmistakes were made\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked about the delay in the review, Mr O\u2019Sullivan said it is better that it is \u201cdetailed\u201d. \u201cWe don\u2019t want just a quick review that\u2019s brushed under the carpet and we move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also said he is supportive of Mr Martin, saying he is \u201cdoing an incredible job as Taoiseach\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wicklow-Wexford TD Malcolm Byrne said: \u201cI\u2019m not obsessed by the reporting date [of the presidential election review], though it does need to be soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe bigger issue is how we are breaking down the barriers to delivery on housing, infrastructure, childcare, disability services. Citizens are not obsessed by internal party plans, but want to know how we are delivering on those issues. That is my priority.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The expected delay in the review into Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s disastrous presidential election has been met with disappointment by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,7038,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-131164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-irish-politics","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}