Taoiseach: 'I’m not responsible for everything that unfolded' around Jim Gavin’s exit 

Mr Gavin withdrew from the presidential campaign on Sunday evening after he failed to address questions surrounding €3,300 he did not repay to a former tenant

Micheál Martin and Jim Gavin outside Leinster House. Mr Martin accepted he did recommend Mr Gavin to be Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate. File picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is “not responsible for everything that unfolded” around Jim Gavin’s collapsed presidential campaign.

Mr Gavin withdrew from the presidential campaign on Sunday, after he failed to address questions surrounding €3,300 he did not repay to a former tenant.

Speaking on Newstalk, Mr Martin accepted he did recommend Mr Gavin to be Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate.

“Fundamentally, I did recommend that. I’m not responsible for everything that unfolded, obviously, because we would have been totally unaware of the issue despite very comprehensive due diligence,” Mr Martin said.

The Taoiseach said the presidential election can be “very difficult”, while saying party TDs did not go through similar vetting processes to Mr Gavin.

Meanwhile, Mr Martin said he did not believe Bertie Ahern would have been able to win a presidential election.

“I don’t think Bertie would have made it,” Mr Martin said. “It would have been incredibly bruising for him. I don’t know why he would want to bring it upon himself.”

It comes as Fianna Fáil minister James Lawless said the party needs to conduct a "postmortem" on the fallout from the scandal to make sure mistakes cannot be repeated.

Speaking at a budget briefing, the minister for further and higher education said the fact that Fianna Fáil does not have a candidate in the election is "quite a stark consequence". 

Mr Lawless spent a few days on the road with Mr Gavin last week, saying: "I thought he was really building momentum, and I thought he was getting to a stride, perhaps not in the set piece debates, but he was extremely engaging on the ground and in small venues and shopping centres and main streets, which we ran many of in the last couple of days."

"I think it's an unfortunate episode. I think that Jim Gavin is somebody who showed leadership in civil society through sport, but not only that, in the Defence Forces and through his role in the Northeast Inner City Task Force."

"It's not unreasonable to think that an individual with that background would make a good candidate."

But the presidential election is a "particularly uniquely challenging" election, he said. "Yet again, a candidate has fallen foul of that."

Meanwhile, junior minister Niamh Smyth said she expected the parliamentary party meeting to go “late into the night."

“Of course, I'm very disappointed,” Ms Smyth said.

“Fianna Fáil is a very large and influential political party across this island [and] doesn't have a candidate three weeks ahead from polling day.

“The Taoiseach has said and said there are questions to the answers. I expect our parliamentary party meeting tonight there will be a robust, probably heated discussion.

“But I am sure coming out of that we will have a clearer picture of exactly what happened and how we are going to approach this in the future.” 

Asked if she believed Mr Martin’s leadership could withstand the controversy, Ms Smyth said, “Yes, I do.”

She said: "I don't think anybody's leadership can be judged on one particular [incident].

“This hasn't been one of his best moments or the party’s. I think he's been very honest in saying that in the press conferences he's done over recent days.”