Taoiseach Micheál Martin was aware of allegations against presidential candidate Jim Gavin but had been told by the former football manager ‘there’s nothing to see here’, a Fianna Fáil TD has said.
Cork South Central TD Séamus McGrath also said Mr Martin’s leadership of the party was secure. He told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday that it was time for the party to move on.
Mr Martin engaged in a dogged defence of his leadership at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on Tuesday night amid renewed criticism from his TDs of the party’s disastrous presidential election campaign.
The showdown with the critics in his party came after publication of a long-delayed internal report into the presidential campaign that saw Mr Gavin – who had been strongly backed by Mr Martin to be the Fianna Fáil candidate – abandon his campaign after it emerged he owed a former tenant more than €3,000.
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While the report contained no new damning facts about the issue, some TDs were critical of the leadership’s management of the campaign and the selection process, with some feeling they were kept in the dark by Mr Martin about Mr Gavin until the last minute – and then pressurised into supporting him.
Mr McGrath said the parliamentary party meeting had been “very honest, open and frank” and over five hours the report into the party’s presidential election campaign was examined “systematically and methodically”.
There was “a lot of anger and criticism”, he acknowledged, but lessons had been learned and there were broader issues about the process of selecting a candidate for presidential elections.
“There was a lot of hurt expressed, a lot of anger expressed, and a lot of criticism, and that’s all true. But there was also a strong sense that it’s time that the party moves on,” Mr McGrath said.
“Certainly, it was accepted things could have been handled better, but the idea that there was no due diligence done was not correct, there was due diligence.
“Decisions like this have to be made with a broader consultation across the party, whether it’s with elected members within the party and indeed the parliamentary party. And some of the anger last night was around a lack of input from the parliamentary party.”
When asked why Mr Martin did not react to the allegations against Mr Gavin, Mr McGrath said there were suggestions made around the tenant but there was “nothing specific, there was nothing concrete, and when that was put to Jim Gavin obviously he did not accept there was an issue there, he said there wasn’t an issue, he said there was nothing to see here”.
Mr McGrath said the information about Mr Gavin was not specific and no evidence “was put on the table”.
“In politics there’s always rumours going around, there are always suggestions being made. Before you bring any information to a party, you have to be clear about that information, you have to assert the factual base of that information. I think that was the issue here. Yes, there were suggestions made, but there wasn’t anything concrete on the table,” Mr McGrath said.
Fianna Fáil Minister of State Thomas Byrne also defended Mr Martin’s handling of the Gavin issue.
The Taoiseach and the party had been relying on the candidate to provide information, there were no public records on disputes with tenants and the information was not readily available, he said.
It had only been when the tenant approached the party that they became aware of the situation, Mr Byrne told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland.
Once the Taoiseach became aware of the full details of the issue involving a former tenant of Mr Gavin, Mr Martin suggested Mr Gavin should withdraw from the presidential campaign, Mr Byrne added.
Elsewhere, on Newstalk Breakfast, Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Andrews said it was now time for the party “to get on with it”.
