‘Fianna Fáil is very much back in business’

It’s not quite the ‘showtime’ era and despite the fanfare, they are still not the Dáil’s largest party, but as one senior TD put it, “Fianna Fáil is very much back in business”.

The bloated ranks of the soldiers of destiny yesterday took its first formal steps into Leinster House for its post-election parliamentary party meeting.

And while all 44 were keen to play down any hint of smugness or self-congratulation, it is clear the old pep in the step is back.

From early morning, throngs of new and old TDs calmly glided through the campus gates as they stopped to chat to the waiting media. There was a standing ovation for leader Micheál Martin as he arrived into what one frontbencher said was a “nicely crowded” room.

Driving into the campus, Carlow-Kilkenny TD John McGuinness said “it is quite clear to me it will have to be a Fianna Fáil-led government”. Social protection spokesperson Willie O Dea went further by saying “Fianna Fáil is very much back in business”.

Public expenditure spokesperson Seán Fleming said it is important not to be “triumphalist”, while other senior TDs having a Dáil bar coffee afterwards stressed the party’s new buzzword, “reform”, and how they are not getting ahead of themselves.

But compared to the listless ship mentality of the last five years, the pre-election corpse that was Fianna Fáil now clearly has a pulse again.

During yesterday’s private 90-minute meeting — much of which was spent thanking TDs for their work and welcoming new arrivals (there are after all quite a few) — Mr Martin was keen to emphasise the official line of no talk of coalitions or red-line issues until negotiations actually begin.

The first step, he said, is to ensure enough votes are secured for next Thursday’s Dáil vote on who should be taoiseach, encouraging TDs to reign their views on future matters for the time being and emphasise the need for — you guessed it — “reform”.

More than a few TDs took the message to heart, publicly at least, telling reporters in oddly similar terms that it is important not to try and jump three fences at once before the real race has even begun. It’s all very serious, they said. We must put the country’s needs first at all costs. Have we mentioned “reform”?

But regardless of the public portrayal of dignity in success, there is no doubt Fianna Fáil is privately brimming with confidence.

Speaking after the meeting, one frontbench TD was asked if the party’s new favourite son Mr Martin — who has spent the past 12 months battling internal detractors — had passed around the bubbly.

“You’re joking. Maybe some herbal tea, sure you know he’s a clean-living man,” he joked.

The champagne, for now, is officially on ice. But don’t be surprised if some party members soon let the mask slip and start clinking their glasses to toast what has passed and, potentially, what is to come. Herbal tea, after all, isn’t for everyone.

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