Presidential race: How Jim Gavin won the right to run for Fianna Fáil
Taoiseach Micheál Martin looks on as former Dublin Gaelic football manager Jim Gavin speaks to the media outside Leinster House after he was declared Fianna Fáil's candidate for the presidential election. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
As members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party grumbled through the Dáil recess about the lack of a presidential candidate, the man who would become their candidate was involved in deep conversations behind the scenes.
Jim Gavin, the former manager of the Dublin football team, was meeting with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil’s deputy leader, Jack Chambers.
Senior party sources told the that “people approached” the leadership about the prospect of Mr Gavin contesting the election in early summer.
Mr Chambers took the lead and started hitting the phones to drum up support.
Ultimately, the former GAA man overcame party stalwart Billy Kelleher to become Fianna Fáil’s presidential election candidate.
He won by 41 votes to 29, with most of the parliamentary party now convinced he will go on to win the October 24 election.
One TD argued that Mr Gavin had more strings to his bow than Mr Kelleher and was rooted in a larger number of communities. This, they argued, would stand to Fianna Fáil when the campaigning starts.
When bringing Mr Gavin out, politicians would be able to meet former Irish soldiers or the GAA club who wants to meet the man who helped the Dublin football team reach their historic five-in-a-row.
“Billy just didn’t have those same ties,” one TD said.
Mr Gavin would be a vote-getter, and this is ultimately what swayed many to back him.
Despite being best known as the Dubs manager, it is understood that Mr Gavin did not mention the GAA at all until the seventh minute of his 10-minute speech, his pitch to be the Fianna Fáil candidate.
Some in the room found Mr Kelleher's pitch to be a better contribution.
The meeting started late due to poor timekeeping by some politicians, with chief whip Mary Butler sending out a text warning to arrive immediately.
The delay meant the Taoiseach’s lunch, a smoked salmon salad, had to be sent up to the meeting from the Leinster House canteen.
Sources said that Mr Martin has been counselled that "there is a lot of work to do" with the former Dublin boss, with suggestions that he may struggle in the white-hot atmosphere of an election campaign, which will focus on little more than his personal views and personality. One TD said:
However, another member of the parliamentary party pointed out that Mr Kelleher is as unknown to newer TDs as Mr Gavin.
“I had only met Billy Kelleher once,” the politician said.
“I had met Jim Gavin several times. He came to meet me and spent 90 minutes in my office. I threw every question at him.”
This was echoed by another TD, who said there are only five TDs who were in Leinster House in the 1990s still in office.
Mr Kelleher’s supporters repeatedly said they were “proud of him”, with some acknowledging that they put their necks on the line to publicly support him when Mr Martin was backing Mr Gavin.
With Mr Kelleher "hitting the crossbar”, it raised questions among some of his supporters about whether he may have been successful had he jumped into the race earlier or, as one person suggested, later.
One party source said that they believed the race had been won about two weeks ago when "the squeeze" came from party leadership, particularly on those who have recently been appointed to either ministerial or committee positions.
However, all insisted that the phone calls and meetings were cordial and friendly and that there was "not a bad word said" between the two sides.
There is still deep criticism, however, of how the Taoiseach handled the process.
Many TDs argued that Mr Kelleher was forced to put himself forward due to the lack of information forthcoming from his party leader and the idea that there would be a “coronation rather than competition”.
"I think he took some of us for granted," said a TD.
There is no suggestion that Mr Kelleher’s place within the party was damaged, with one supporter saying that it will give him a boost.
There is also hope that the situation will lead to further consultation within the party about future processes, but the priority, for now, is to get Jim Gavin to the Áras.
