{"id":74825,"date":"2025-10-12T00:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T00:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/74825\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T00:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T00:20:10","slug":"micheal-martin-tells-fianna-fail-he-is-deeply-sorry-after-jim-gavin-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/74825\/","title":{"rendered":"Miche\u00e1l Martin tells Fianna F\u00e1il he is \u2018deeply sorry\u2019 after Jim Gavin withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said he is \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d for how Fianna F\u00e1il candidate Jim Gavin had fared during the presidential race.<\/p>\n

The Fianna F\u00e1il leader said he had not spoken to the party\u2019s former presidential contender but said he was in touch with friends of Mr Gavin.<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin withdrew as a presidential contender last Sunday after a tenant claimed he tried to recover \u20ac3,300 in overpaid rent from Mr Gavin 16 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been speaking to people close to Jim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Jim is obviously having time with himself and his family, and I think that should be respected, and I think it\u2019s been very traumatic for him and very difficult for him and for his family, and I\u2019m very conscious and aware of that.<\/p>\n

\"FiannaFianna F\u00e1il leader Miche\u00e1l Martin attended a grassroots event in Dublin (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been talking to close friends of Jim.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he is \u201cglad to see that that has been resolved\u201d in relation to Mr Gavin reportedly repaying his former tenant \u20ac3,300.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the tenant is also a victim in all of this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI listened to the podcast (the tenant spoke on) and I think he spoke frankly and candidly and in a very reasonable manner. So I\u2019m glad that that has been resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

He made the comments at the annual Fianna F\u00e1il grassroots event on Saturday evening in Dublin, days after he apologised to his parliamentary party for how presidential candidate Mr Gavin fared.<\/p>\n

Addressing the event, he said he was \u201cdeeply sorry\u2026 for how things turned\u201d out, and acknowledged the disappointment within the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly we need to have a new procedure for deciding when we run a candidate for president and who that candidate is to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI for one support the idea that we move to a process which is in tune with the wider reforms which we have introduced in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, we think of Jim Gavin and his family, who have gone through a very traumatic time,\u201d he added, which drew applause from the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cJim Gavin has made a very significant contribution to our country as UN peacekeeper, public servant and in his impactful work in the North East inner city of Dublin, where he is hugely respected. This needs to be said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media before his address, Mr Martin also explained his decision not to direct party members to vote a certain way, stating it would represent \u201ca certain degree of arrogance\u201d if he did.<\/p>\n

He said he would vote for Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys, as \u201cit\u2019s important that the president of Ireland is one who can get on with other countries\u201d, but said he would not campaign for her.<\/p>\n

\"FineFine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys cuts a cake at half-time during a visit to a game in Tipperary while on the campaign trail (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

Earlier, Ms Humphreys thanked Mr Martin for saying he would vote for her.<\/p>\n

Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly said on Saturday that Mr Martin was \u201centitled\u201d to back Ms Humphreys and said: \u201cI think he probably has actually clarified the situation \u2013 that for the leadership of Fianna F\u00e1il there is very little difference between Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael, so the people of Ireland have a clear choice to make now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Gavin\u2019s withdrawal has left just two candidates in the race ahead of polling day in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Ms Humphreys canvassed in Co Tipperary, while left-wing independent Ms Connolly met people in counties Waterford and Wexford.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Upperchurch Drombane GAA, Ms Humphreys was asked about comments from former Fine Gael minister and broadcaster Ivan Yates calling on Fine Gael to \u201csmear the bejaysus out of\u201d Ms Connolly.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly said she was \u201cabsolutely shocked\u201d when she heard Mr Yates\u2019s comments and said it \u201ctrivialised\u201d the election campaign.<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys responded: \u201cIvan Yates is a commentator, and he hasn\u2019t been in Fine Gael for the last 25 years, and he\u2019s certainly not advising me on my campaign.<\/p>\n

I need all the votes I can get, there’s no question about that<\/p>\n

Heather Humphreys<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s entitled to say what he thinks himself. He\u2019s no more involved in my campaign than Joe Brolly is involved in Catherine Connolly\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I won\u2019t be a candidate that\u2019s going to smear anybody, but I will ask the hard questions, and I have already a number of issues that I think Catherine needs to clarify.\u201d<\/p>\n

She raised the issue again of Ms Connolly giving a woman with a Special Criminal Court conviction access to the D\u00e1il for six months while Garda clearance was pending.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe all know the rules are very clear, you must have Garda vetting. We talk about trying to unite people in this country, we\u2019re talking about a united Ireland. \u00c9ir\u00edg\u00ed are the very people that tried to pull down the Good Friday Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also raised questions about using \u20ac3,691 of parliamentary allowance for a trip to Syria in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do believe she needs to answer those questions, but those are straight questions, and that\u2019s acceptable in any campaign,\u201d Ms Humphreys said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the questions that will be debated during the campaign, but I certainly won\u2019t be smearing anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appealing for votes, Ms Humphreys said she was \u201ca centre ground candidate\u201d at a \u201cdivisive\u201d time who \u201cwon\u2019t fall out with our European neighbours\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need all the votes I can get, there\u2019s no question about that,\u201d she said as she pledged to travel on trade missions \u201call over the world\u201d if she became president.<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys also thanked Mr Martin for saying he would vote for her after Mr Gavin\u2019s shock withdrawal.<\/p>\n

\"FineFine Gael presidential candidate Heather Humphreys meets Ruth Ryan, aged four, holding her teddy Bruno, during a visit to Upperchurch Drombane GAA in Tipperary (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

After surviving a leadership wobble during the week, Mr Martin said he would not be telling party members who to vote for, stating that \u201cwhen you start telling people how to vote, they generally go in the opposite direction\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked about discontent within Fianna F\u00e1il, junior minister Niall Collins said the issue needed to be put into perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is dead,\u201d he said on RT\u00c9 Radio.<\/p>\n

Ms Humphreys said she had received phone calls from some Fianna F\u00e1il members \u201cwho will definitely vote for me\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just like to thank the Taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, for saying that he\u2019s supporting me and he\u2019s going to vote for me. I do appreciate that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Asked about her stance on fox hunting, Ms Humphreys said she is in favour of \u201crural pursuits\u201d, stating that there are \u201cmany controls\u201d and \u201cmany regulations\u201d in place.<\/p>\n

The candidates are entering the final week of campaigning, which includes a one-on-one debate on RT\u00c9 Radio on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The last poll conducted, which was published last Sunday before Mr Gavin\u2019s withdrawal, put Ms Connolly ahead of Ms Humphreys.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said he is \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d for how Fianna F\u00e1il candidate Jim Gavin had fared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-74825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74825","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=74825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}