{"id":195611,"date":"2025-12-17T00:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T00:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/195611\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T00:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T00:59:09","slug":"six-key-moments-in-the-unravelling-of-jim-gavin-and-fianna-fails-presidential-campaign-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/195611\/","title":{"rendered":"Six key moments in the unravelling of Jim Gavin and Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s presidential campaign \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fianna F\u00e1il<\/a> review into its presidential election<\/a> fiasco has dropped \u2013 and it is full of detail about the ill-starred campaign. Here is what we have learned.<\/p>\n

1. \u2018No procedure\u2019 in place<\/p>\n

The report is scathing about how Fianna F\u00e1il selects presidential candidates, sketching out a system where people \u201cseek out the patronage of senior figures within the party\u201d while putative candidates were \u201cplaced at a disadvantage\u201d by not being able to declare their candidacy before early September.<\/p>\n

It outlines how former senior figures like Bertie Ahern<\/a> and Mary Hanafin<\/a> sought support but were unsuccessful, with Ahern only learning that he wouldn\u2019t get the backing of the leadership through the media. With a loose process underpinning things, progress was \u201cat best haphazard\u201d through the summer<\/p>\n

The report finds it is \u201cextraordinary that no procedure\u201d has been put in place for selecting a candidate.<\/p>\n

2. Courting Jim Gavin during \u2018silly season\u2019<\/p>\n

Former Dublin footballer Keith Barr made the initial approach to Fianna F\u00e1il deputy leader Jack Chambers in early June, saying Jim Gavin<\/a> was \u201cone of the greatest football managers of all time\u201d. Across June and July, Gavin, Chambers and senior officials talk and hold meetings, including with the Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>, before Gavin confirms he wants to put his name forward.<\/p>\n

The report finds that Gavin was supported by Martin and Chambers. But the party leadership decide that August \u201cknown as \u2018silly season\u2019 in political media circles\u201d is a bad time to launch a campaign. None of this is known to the wider party, it seems, with Billy Kelleher suggesting to Martin\u2019s top aide Deirdre Gillane that the Taoiseach himself should run in mid-August. Meanwhile, more inbound queries come to the Taoiseach from MEP Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa about the possibility of her going forward.<\/p>\n

3. No polling<\/p>\n

During the early stages of the campaign, polling was undertaken on various runners and riders, organised by party grandee Peter MacDonagh (widely known as \u201cthe child of Prague\u201d within party circles, as he resides in the Czech capital). It showed nobody in the running enjoyed a particularly strong position. But no polling was done on Gavin before his nomination.<\/p>\n

4. Gavin told \u2018any disgruntled tenant\u2019 would go public<\/p>\n

Senior officials undertook due diligence which they \u201cbelieve was exhaustive\u201d, including research, examination of public documents, media articles and meetings with Gavin, as well as warning him regarding the likelihood of intense scrutiny and the need to keep the party briefed. The report says the discussions with Gavin were \u201cmore detailed\u201d due to his political inexperience and it was flagged to him that \u201cany disgruntled tenant\u201d would almost certainly go public.<\/p>\n

5. \u2018It is evident that the matter is very serious\u2019 \u2013 the campaign unravels<\/p>\n

The report details how the Irish Independent journalist Fionn\u00e1n Sheahan approached Gillane about a potential issue with a tenant on September 5th and emails Fianna F\u00e1il three days later saying he wants to question Gavin about a \u201cparticular issue arising with a tenant\u201d. Dublin South West TD John Lahart sends a text to Chambers on the same day referencing a potential issue with a tenant who was a journalist \u201cand the return of a deposit\u201d. Gavin says he has no recollection of these issues, of not returning a deposit or having a tenant who was a journalist. <\/p>\n

The report bluntly states \u201cnothing further was done\u201d following this.<\/p>\n

After a story detailing the matter was published in the Irish Independent, the former tenant, Sunday World deputy editor Nall Donald, contacts the party \u2013 on October 4th. A Fianna F\u00e1il press officer who was travelling with Gavin takes the call, and on hearing the tenant\u2019s name for the first time, Gavin \u201cappears to recognise\u201d it \u2013 undertaking to make additional inquiries.<\/p>\n

Phone calls continue between Gavin and Fianna F\u00e1il officials, with the review noting: \u201cIt is evident that the matter is very serious.\u201d Gavin reviews his records and accepts he received at least some of the payments in question. <\/p>\n

The following day, October 5th, after a debate on RT\u00c9\u2019s The Week in Politics, Chambers and Martin tell Gavin they\u2019re not in a position to recommend the party continue to support him. The candidate returns to party HQ that evening, is helped to draft a statement, and he withdraws from the race.<\/p>\n

6. Costs and conclusions<\/p>\n

The review estimates that the total cost of the campaign was approximately \u20ac350,000-\u20ac400,000.<\/p>\n

It argues there should be a specific timeline for nominations, with new rules giving a weighted vote to councillors, TDs, officials and the wider membership in the selection process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Fianna F\u00e1il review into its presidential election fiasco has dropped \u2013 and it is full of detail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[894,895,42,13808,2043,1843,43,978,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-195611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bertie-ahern","9":"tag-fianna-fail","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-jack-chambers","12":"tag-jim-gavin","13":"tag-micheal-martin","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-presidential-election","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195611","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=195611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}