Taoiseach rejects assertions that Dublin Castle U-turn came after pressure from backbenchers

Spokespeople for Micheál Martin confirmed that the Taoiseach would not be in Dublin Castle, where the national results will be declared and where Catherine Connolly will be declared the winner

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his Mary leaving the polling station after casting their votes in the presidential election on Friday. Picture: Dan Linehan

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has rejected assertions that he opted to travel to Dublin Castle for the presidential election declaration after facing pressure from Fianna Fáil backbenchers.

Earlier on Saturday, spokespeople for Mr Martin said he would not attend the election count centre. 

However, this decision was reversed, and he later confirmed he would travel from Cork for Catherine Connolly’s confirmation as the next president of Ireland.

It comes amid growing anger in Fianna Fáil about their leader’s handling of the election campaign following the selection of Jim Gavin, as well as his support of Fine Gael’s candidate Heather Humphreys.

Ms Connolly won the election in a landslide, securing 914,143 first-preference votes.

Pressed about his plans, Mr Martin insisted that he had initially sought to make an appearance on RTÉ’s Six One in Cork, before travelling to Dublin Castle.

“First of all, I thought the count was later and I was asked to do the news and I thought I’d do it from Cork, but obviously the count was coming quicker. That’s all,” Mr Martin said.

Asked why his spokespeople had said he would not be in attendance, Mr Martin said: “Fair enough, but I’m here. I came and there was nobody who rang me about it.” 

Mr Martin said it was “possibly” an issue of communication. Pressed further if he was throwing his communications staff under the bus, he rejected the assertion.

“I’ll take responsibility, I’m not throwing anybody under the bus here.”

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Fianna Fáil TD Padraig O’Sullivan called for both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to go to Dublin Castle to congratulate Ms Connolly on her victory.

“Both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste should be down to Dublin to congratulate her,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “You have to take the losses with the victories.” 

Mr O’Sullivan said he expected Ms Connolly to “conduct herself well” as president, citing her time as Leas Ceann Comhairle as an example.

Mr O’Sullivan said the Government parties needed to take “major learnings” from the election, particularly that over half the electorate opted not to cast a ballot, and that of those who did, around 13% opted to spoil.

“The leadership of both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael need to be humble and understand why this happened,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “It can’t be the same old politics.” 

Mr O’Sullivan said many Fianna Fáil voters had struggled with going to vote for Ms Humphreys. While he said many did, they did not come out in significant numbers.

“We have question on how we motivate our base going forward,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

Galway West TD, John Connolly, said it was crucial in the wake of the presidential election that work is done to restore confidence in the Government.

“It’s the primary way to rebuild reputation and trust in the electorate,” Mr Connolly said.

'Most embarrassing election for Fianna Fáil since 2011'

Elsewhere, there is ongoing anger within Fianna Fáil about the party’s handling of the election.

Cork TD James O’Connor told the Irish Examiner that Fianna Fáil could have won the election if Billy Kelleher had been chosen as the party’s candidate over Mr Gavin.

“Micheál Martin has accepted the blame,” he said. “He apologised to the parliamentary party, and he apologised to the entire Fianna Fáil organisation at the Cairde Fáil dinner.

“I think Billy Kelleeher would have been an outstanding candidate for the party, a credible candidate, and also somebody that has all of the attributes and skills to perform in an election that, at a minimum, demanded that.” 

Louth TD Erin McGreenhan congratulated Ms Connolly on her victory.

“Nonetheless, as a Fianna Fáiler, I’m disappointed that we are here,” she said. “We had a candidate on the ballot, and the leadership decided to disenfranchise our grassroots by [the Taoiseach] saying he was voting for Heather.

“At our PP [parliamentary party], it was expressed that a preference for another party should not happen.” 

Privately, Fianna Fáil members were furious over how the election was carried out. One Fianna Fáil TD told the Irish Examiner that the election had been “some shitshow” and “our lads made an absolute balls of it”.

Another parliamentary party member said that it is “incredibly concerning” that such a high number of people either did not vote or spoiled their votes.

“People just can’t afford to have their heads buried in the sand anymore.” 

One Fianna Fáil member said this was the “most embarrassing election for Fianna Fáil since 2011”.

“It’s brought a huge level of shame amongst the Fianna Fáil members and supporters,” they said.

“The decision that was taken by the party's hierarchy in relation to this presidential election. Irrespective of the outcome, we do know that we had plausible candidates that could have performed.”

Sources in Fianna Fáil were particularly critical of Mr Martin’s handling of the campaign, placing significant blame on the party leader.

“He might want to disassociate himself from the shambles but he can’t,” one TD said. “He is at fault… You can’t just say sorry for a €500,000 mistake.” 

The TD added that there needed to be some kind of repercussion for the failure of the campaign.

Another TD said the campaign was an “absolute disaster”, and they did not have huge faith in the internal review being carried out.