'Toxic' Fianna Fáil machine eyes next phase of recovery

At Fianna Fáil’s first ard fheis following its electoral defeat in 2011, a leading British politics academic, Professor Tim Bale, delivered sobering advice to delegates: “You have to realise that your brand is not simply tarnished, it is utterly trashed. It is not just trashed, it is toxic.”

Three years on and Fianna Fáil believes it has shaken off its toxicity. In what it boasted was the biggest political gathering of the year, more than 2,000 of its 20,000 signed-up members packed into the Gleneagle Hotel in Killarney, Co Kerry, on Saturday night to hear their leader, Micheál Martin, deliver a televised address.

There are many signs of reinvigoration at a national level and of party activism at a local level — nowhere more so than in Kerry.

There was no shortage, either, of bright young things rushing to the podium to surround Mr Martin following his speech, a public display that the party is shaking off the past and embracing the new.

Behind all of this, however, is a growing sense that the Fianna Fáil comeback is running out of steam, that the recovery has gone back into lower gear and is not going anywhere fast.

Following a resurgence in the polls over the course of last year — at one point to become the most popular party in the country again — Fianna Fáil has dropped back to 21%-22% support.

The question now is whether it is destined to stay at this level into the future or if there remains the potential for true renewal, for further recovery that could bring the party back to the force it once was.

When the results of one opinion poll came in before Christmas, the Galway West TD and former deputy party leader Éamon Ó Cuív tweeted that Fianna Fáil was “becalmed”, adding that “we just don’t seem to be making consistent gains”. That is the word that best describes the party and the atmosphere over the weekend. It does not seem to have much wind in its sails.

The gathering took place against the backdrop of the biggest crisis this Coalition has so far faced, with Fine Gael ministers at war over the handling of penalty point allegations when they were raised by garda whistleblowers and a Labour minister defying the Taoiseach’s call not to speak publicly on the issue.

But far from taking advantage of the open goal and using the crisis to rally support, it did not seem to be top of the agenda for Mr Martin.

Asked by journalists about it earlier in the day, he called for more leadership from the Government on the issue. But the crisis got just one mention during his speech on Saturday night: “When a Minister for Justice can refuse to apologise for falsely attacking members of the gardaí and still keep his job, there is something very wrong.”

Mr Martin delivered a speech that — instead of inspiring — had all the hallmarks of being based on focus-group discussions, touching on all the areas worrying the people who are most likely to vote.

For older people — who were alienated from Fianna Fáil over the party’s introduction of medical card means tests — Mr Martin spoke about prescription charges and cuts to their phone allowance.

For families who were “cutting spending to the bone”, he hit on the property tax, water charges, and mortgage difficulties.

He spoke of the “raft of new taxes and charges” and just how unfair they are: “No matter what your income is, what pressure you are dealing with, you get the same,” he said.

It was a speech designed to hit all the right notes with members of the population most likely to vote, just two months out from local and European elections. And it was an ard fheis all about promoting these candidates.

The televised part of the conference — from 10am to 1pm on Saturday — was choreographed to feature a gender-balanced cohort of local election candidates in their 20s and early 30s, who delivered polished speeches on a range of motions.

It was a much different story later in the evening, when motions on health and education were dropped because time ran out after invited experts spoke to the crowd.

“It’s ironic; I have to go into a session training us on how to speak for the local elections but I wasn’t able to speak in front of delegates on a motion I tabled to reduce prescription charges,” said Caitriona McClean, a candidate in Lucan in West Dublin.

Over the weekend, a cosmetic renewal of Fianna Fáil was on display, one focused on the type of candidates being put forward rather than the underlying policies and beliefs that define them.

These candidates might be strong enough, new enough, and attractive enough to voters to win votes in May and push the party into its next phase of recovery, But beyond that, Fianna Fáil needs to do more to inspire a weary public with a party that is not just re-packaged but truly renewed.

Local election candidates have their say:

Local election candidates Paul McAuliffe, Ballymun, Deirdre Smith, Ratoath, James McCann, Dun Laoghaire, Aaron O’Sullivan, Youghal, and Laura Reid, Ballymun.

* James McCann, 27, of Dun Laoghaire. Works in insurance.

“I’ve been in the party the last five years. I joined FF after I left the Defence Forces, I felt it represented community service and national service. I freely accept that in the last 20 years, the culture didn’t reflect that. I think that the next 20 years should be about trying to change that culture.

“Yes, people do ask my why I’m running for FF. But to be honest, I think you get that in any party. I welcome anyone that questions me on it, rightly so. To say that people are more forgiving to younger candidates is the wrong word. But they want to know why, they want to know what’s different in our outlook to what went before us.”

* Aaron O’Sullivan, 27, of Youghal. Barrister.

“I joined the party in college, when I was 18 or 19, at the time the economy was going well but that all fell apart thereafter. I agree as much as anyone that mistakes were made and things went wrong. But an opportunity arose for myself, I was co-opted onto Youghal Town Council in 2012. Rather than sit on the fence, it was my opportunity to play a constructive role in representing my constituents.

“I was as frustrated and annoyed as any other citizen that things went wrong. But the core principles of FF were always to educate the young and look after the elderly, and those core principles still hold true.”

* Laura Reid, 29, of Ballymun. Works in retail.

“I’ve only been involved in politics for the last four or five years. None of my family were involved and it was something I just decided to do myself. FF is a party that has renewed most and has a new vision for what the country should look like. I think we’re more proactive in terms of policies.

“I think the vote will be earned back this time. Micheál Martin was out canvassing with me a couple of weeks ago. He’s out three or four nights a week and keeping it very local. We need to earn votes back from the ground up.

“My friends are supportive. I’ve always shown an interest in politics, but there isn’t a huge amount of women in politics that you can aspire to be.”