Paul Hosford: Fianna Fáil's next mission? 'Take the spotlight off that Harris fella'

After weeks of wall-to-wall TikTok Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil is pitching itself as more about social issues than social media. The party now needs to fill in the blanks with distinctive policies

Fianna Fáil members listening to Finance Minister Michael McGrath speaking at the ard fheis. Picture: Damien Storan/PA

Now the party must find distinctive policies

It must have been tough being a Fianna Fáiler in the last few weeks.

Sure, the mature thing to do is applaud Leo Varadkar off the field and welcome Simon Harris as Taoiseach, but it’s not what you want to be doing. You want to be out front and centre, being Fianna Fáil.

In that regard, it’s probably handy that the party’s ard fheis came at the end of a three-week spotlight being on Fine Gael following Mr Varadkar’s departure and Mr Harris’s ascension.

Irish Examiner Political Reporter Paul Hosford talking with Finance Minister Michael McGrath at the Irish Examiner stand during the Fianna Fáil ard fheis. Photo: Gareth Chaney

But at a second ard fheis in six months, there wasn’t a massive amount of chip-on-shoulder defiance from the Soldiers of Destiny, with a sense that the party has a task on its hands to put clear blue water between itself and Fine Gael ahead of both the local and European elections in June and, most crucially, the general election next year.

Fianna Fáil’s clarion call at events like this is “delivery” — it is the party that knows how to get things done.

What those things are may shift, but only Fianna Fáil knows how to manipulate the levers of government sufficiently to see them come to fruition.

Claire Taylor with a babygro bearing the legend ‘Future Taoiseach — Fianna Fáil’ at the merchandise stand during the ard fheis. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

But delivery is a hard sell when you’re in a three-party coalition and credit must be shared equally with partners of equal esteem.

Beyond that, the mood in the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on Saturday was one of spoiling for a fight, of sharpening elbows.

Many at the convention wanted to see one thing in the coming weeks — Fianna Fáil reassert itself as a senior player in the coalition.

Fianna Fail members including former taoiseach Bertie Ahern watching proceedings of the party's 82nd ard fheis at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre on Saturday. Picture: Damien Storan/PA

Or, as one delegate put it, “take the spotlight off that Harris fella”.

While ministers argue otherwise, the party faithful know that allowing Fine Gael a free run at the headlines isn’t a winning strategy just 55 days before a pair of crucial elections.

It is time, they feel, to lay out what Fianna Fáil does that Fine Gael doesn’t.

The problem with that is that with such little time left in this Government, the scope for movement is limited, and getting Fine Gael and Green Party agreement on major departures from the Programme For Government is unlikely at this stage.

Former RTÉ presenter and barrister Cynthia Ní Mhurchú who has joined sitting MEP Billy Kelleher on Fianna Fáil’s Ireland South European Parliament ticket. Picture: Gareth Chaney 

What that means is that the announcements that are made were hardly red meat to the membership.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien tried his best, telling delegates that the First Home Scheme would continue for five more years (if Fianna Fáil is in government being the unsaid part) and confirming a plan to scrap development levies and water connection charges for all homes including rural houses to the end of this year.

Disabilities Minister Anne Rabbitte announced a pilot programme which will see special schools given a grant to hire therapists, and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said having banned the sale of vapes to under-18s, he was now examining controls on colours and flavours, and banning disposable vapes.

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Finance Minister Michael McGrath, a perennially popular man at these events, gave little in the way of specifics but said “we will again have a substantial income tax package” in the autumn budget.

In his speech, Tánaiste Micheál Martin heavily indicated another round of cost-of-living measures is forthcoming but, again, this came without any major specifics.

After weeks of wall-to-wall TikTok Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil’s pitch was that it is less about social media and more about social issues. But while that’s a noble aim, it is also one that isn’t as catchy.

If Fianna Fáil’s pitch is to be that it is the adult in the room, the policy specialists, they may need to find some of its own standout policies.