Fianna Fáil 'made serious errors in judgement' which put pressure on Micheál Martin's leadership, says TD
Taoiseach Micheal Martin makes a speech after Independent candidate Catherine Connolly was named as the new president of Ireland at St Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle, on Saturday evening. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Catherine Connolly's historic presidential victory has put pressure on coalition leaders, with one Fianna Fáil TD suggesting Micheál Martin should be replaced "in the not too distant future".
On Saturday, Ms Connolly was elected the 10th president of Ireland on the back of 914,143 votes compared to Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys's 424,987 and Fianna Fáil's Jim Gavin — who suspended his campaign — with 103,568.
The 213,738 spoiled votes have led both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste to suggest changes could be made to the nominations process for the office.
The result has seen varying degrees of pressure on Micheál Martin and Simon Harris from within their own parties, with Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness suggesting the party needs a new leader soon.
Mr McGuinness said steps must be taken to understand how Fianna Fáil stands on 17% in the latest state of the parties opinion poll.
"[We need] to identify exactly what happened. And that's easy to do because, right across the country, 62% of people voted for Catherine Connolly, [Heather] Humphreys was half of that, and then Jim Gavin was 7.6%.
"We made serious errors of judgment, and we have brought a big political party back to 17% from a time where we did enjoy, at some stages, 45% of the support of the general public. That needs to be addressed."
Asked if this meant that Mr Martin's leadership should be up for discussion, Mr McGuinness said it should.
"Of course it is, yes. We can't talk about the future or about what happened in the presidential election without discussing the type of leadership that brought us to that point."
Fianna Fáil sources on Sunday said they believe that while Mr McGuinness is "easy to write off" as a long-time adversary of the Taoiseach, his words "represent how a lot of people are feeling".
Mr Martin had come in for criticism on Saturday from within his own party after two spokespeople separately confirmed to the that the Taoiseach would not attend the declaration at Dublin Castle.
However, this decision was reversed, and he later confirmed he would travel from Cork, arriving to speak to RTÉ before the announcement.
Pressed about his plans, Mr Martin insisted that he had initially sought to make an appearance on RTÉ’s in Cork before travelling to Dublin Castle.
“First of all, I thought the count was later and I was asked to do the news. 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.”
For his part, Fine Gael sources said that Mr Harris's leadership is not under any threat. However, they that "hard questions need to be asked" about the party's campaign and how Ms Humphreys finished so far behind Ms Connolly.
According to the latest /Red C Poll, Fine Gael's support is 17%, down 2% when compared to when the Government was elected. Fianna Fáil’s support is down five points to 17%, while Sinn Féin's support is up four points since the election to 23%.
Mr Harris defended a Fine Gael video issued during the presidential campaign raising questions about Ms Connolly’s work as a barrister, saying that it “asked the questions many of you [in the media] were asking”.
Despite Ms Connolly's victory coming as a candidate of the combined left, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald confirmed there will be no combined candidate in the by-election to replace the new president.
Meanwhile, a man in his 30s arrested over the weekend for an alleged assault on two women canvassing for Ms Connolly alongside the Sinn Féin leader will appear in court on Monday.
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