Draft review reveals Fianna Fáil was alerted to Jim Gavin rental issue ahead of nomination
Former Fianna Fáil presidential candidate Jim Gavin outside the Customs House in Dublin, after he formally lodged his nomination papers, accompanied by Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers TD. Picture: Leah Farrell / © RollingNews.ie
A member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party informed deputy leader Jack Chambers that Jim Gavin may have had an issue with a former tenant hours before he was chosen as the party's presidential election candidate.
Several sources have told the that this revelation was made to the team overseeing a review of the party’s calamitous presidential election, with documentary evidence provided.
The disclosure is understood to be included in a draft version of the review.
Fianna Fáil selected Mr Gavin to contest the presidential election on September 9, following a vote of the parliamentary party.
He beat Cork MEP Billy Kelleher in a secret ballot by 41 votes to 29.
The former Dublin GAA manager was the preferred candidate of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and deputy Fianna Fáil leader Jack Chambers.
He was also backed publicly by members of Cabinet.
However, he spectacularly withdrew from the race on October 5 following confirmation that he had failed to return rent overpayments worth €3,300 to a tenant in 2008. The rental property was also not declared with the Residential Tenancies Board.
On October 6, Mr Chambers, Fianna Fáil’s director of elections, was critical of Mr Gavin’s explanation of the rental dispute, saying it was “contradicted” by documents provided to the party by the tenant.
The following day, Mr Chambers was asked when he first learned about the rent issue and if it was when a press query was submitted on September 8. He acknowledged that a “general query was raised”.
However, the has learned that the matter was directly raised with Mr Chambers by a member of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on September 8, the day before Mr Gavin was selected to run.
It is understood that a party member received a message suggesting that there may have been an issue with a former tenant and that this was passed on to Mr Chambers.
Neither Fianna Fáil nor Mr Chambers responded to repeated queries on what was done with the communication.
On September 9, Mr Gavin and Mr Kelleher presented to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, with Mr Gavin winning the vote to become the party’s candidate.
He withdrew from the race less than four weeks later on October 5, following a disastrous media performance and a poor debate on RTÉ’s .
On October 19, at the annual Fianna Fáil Bodenstown Commemoration in Kildare, the asked both Mr Martin and Mr Chambers if they had “received any other communication regarding Jim Gavin and a tenant prior to or on September 8”.
The Taoiseach responded: “We are having a review. The bottom line is, the more important point is, that any queries would have been referred to the candidate himself.
“There was an absolute clear statement that there were no issues.
“I'm not clear on what specific communication you are talking about, but there will be a review within the party. We're going to deal with it.
“There's no big issues here. There's no big gotcha moments here."
There is still a lack of clarity on when the review into the presidential election will be completed but it is due back from Mr Gavin's lawyers later this week.
The report was expected in mid-November, but TDs and senators were told that it was taking longer than expected.
Last night, at a parliamentary party meeting, Mr Martin committed to publishing the report next week.
Mr Martin said a special parliamentary party meeting will be held to discuss the findings.
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