Martin set for grilling at Fianna Fáil party meeting 

Following the defeat in the by-election last week, the Taoiseach is to face angry TDs and senators over why the party fared so poorly

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is to face questions over why candidate Deirdre Conroy won less than 5% of the vote in the Dublin Bay South by-election. Picture: Julien Behal Photography

Poor communications, allowing Sinn Féin to dominate the pension issue, and an insufficient social media strategy are some of the reasons why Fianna Fáil failed at the general election last year, TDs are expected to be told tonight.

Following the bruising defeat in the Dublin Bay South by-election last week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is to face angry TDs and senators over why the party fared so poorly with candidate Deirdre Conroy winning less than 5% of the vote.

Senior party sources have told the Irish Examiner that a discussion on the internal report into Fianna Fáil’s poor general election result last year will finally be held at the parliamentary party meeting this evening.

The report, produced by junior minister Seán Fleming, has been “sitting on the desk” of the leader for some time.

It is said to be an uncomfortable read for some in the higher echelons of the party, and will be given an airing as a means by Mr Martin to confront his internal critics.

The party will debate a motion proposed by Barry Cowen which sought for an in-person meeting to be convened soon.

There had been suggestions that the think-in in September at the start of the new Dáil term would be the best place to convene such a meeting, however Mr Cowen is seeking it “within two weeks”.

Meanwhile, former minister Mary O’Rourke warned of the death of the Fianna Fáil party if it fails to learn the lessons of successive election defeats.

“You affect real change by finding out what went wrong. It’s the first step to finding out how we rectify ourselves,” Ms O’Rourke told Midlands 103 FM.

She said Fianna Fáil has had two disastrous recent elections — the general election in 2020 and the by-election. In the general election, Fianna Fáil went from 44 seats down to 37.

“If we go any further there will be no party,” Ms O’Rourke said.

“Correct the wrong things we said or did, avenues that were fruitless … Correct what we did wrong in the public mind, affecting the general election 2020 and the by-election last week.

“We listened to partisan grouping, you have to do that all the time in politics…

“We stopped listening to people, we stopped working out what was the best way forward.”