'F*** Sinn Féin and f*** Fine Gael': Fianna Fáil backbenchers group says party needs to fight back

'You will not be back again if this continues. We are toxic for transfers at the moment', warns John McGuinness

Senator Erin McGreehan.

“Fuck Sinn Féin and fuck Fine Gael” was the rallying call given at the meeting of 29 backbench Fianna Fáil members this week.

In a rip-roaring contribution from Senator Erin McGreehan, the party members - who met while Taoiseach Micheál Martin was out of the country – heard that the party needs to stop looking behind them and around them, and start worrying about themselves.

“Stop looking around us. We are concentrating on our role in government, we are concentrating that Sinn Féin are this and that. Fuck Sinn Féin, fuck Fine Gael, fuck them all. We are Fianna Fáil. We are the largest party in the Seanad, the largest party in the Dáil, the largest in local government,” she said according to sources at the meeting.

Ms McGreehan was among a small number of contributors to complain that Fianna Fáil ministers are being attacked constantly in the Seanad by their Fine Gael colleagues in government.

She said it is time to fight back and said she would be criticising Justice Minister Helen McEntee.

“We of course should be highlighting Fine Gael ministers and what they are failing to do. We are getting it in the neck from Fine Gael in the Seanad and it is a pain in the arse,” she added.

While much has been made of the meeting, likened to the Lemass Group of rebels which formed during Brian Cowen’s tenure as Taoiseach, those behind its formation deny that it is seeking to unseat Mr Martin.

The meeting was formed out of frustration of backbenchers who feel they have “no voice or no say” in the formation of policy and they argued the weekly parliamentary party meetings are no longer working successful.

Offaly TD Barry Cowen said a whole new regime and generation at Fianna Fáil headquarters was now needed.

John McGuinness. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Kilkenny TD John McGuinness said the meeting was formed because the parliamentary party was not working and people were not being listened to.
He said Marc MacSharry left the party because he was blocked in his pursuit of a “shared ownership” of the party.

He warned his colleagues: “You will not be back again if this continues. We are toxic for transfers at the moment.”

Those present included Padraig O’Sullivan, James O’Connor, Jim O’Callaghan, John Lahart, Eamon Ó Cuiv, Joe Flaherty, Willie O’Dea, Lorraine Clifford Lee, Niamh Smyth, John McGuinness, Barry Cowen, Ms McGreehan, Jennifer Murnane O’Connor, Mary Fitzpatrick, Aidan Davitt, Lisa Chambers, Paul McAuliffe, Pat Casey, James Lawless, Malcolm Byrne, Andreas Moynihan and Diarmuid Wilson.

The convenor of the meeting, Cork North Central TD Padraig O’Sullivan told the Irish Examiner that the group aims to complement the party’s role in government and to strengthen the identity of Fianna Fail. “It was a very positive meeting and members have agreed to meet again,” he said.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said that he was aware of the meeting and felt that it was not a rebel group, but rather a policy discussion.