Fianna Fáil - Cowen faces PR mountain

IF ever there was a wake-up call for a Fianna Fáil party languishing in the doldrums and increasingly unpopular in the popular mind, it is in the pages of a confidential internal report containing more than 100 recommendations published in detail for the first time today.

Not surprisingly, given the party’s abysmal performance and palpable lack of leadership up to recent times, the document identifies why FF needs to be overhauled, especially in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Waterford and Cork. Since 1999, its performance in local elections has been gradually deteriorating, a scenario seen as “unsustainable” for a party reliant on grassroots support. Among its key recommendations are the scrapping of ghost cumann, a device used for ard fheis voting purposes, plus the need to focus on party activists rather than cumann-based structures.

Arguably, if the report was based on independent research, the position of Taoiseach Brian Cowen would be in question. But the fact that he commissioned this examination of the party means that, for now, he is out of danger. Mr Cowen has shown signs of leadership lately. But if FF is to have any hope of putting in a convincing electoral performance in 2012 (if the Government lasts that long), he has a mountain to climb.