Irish Examiner View: Micheál Martin must heed lesson of 1990 vote

Taoiseach Micheál Martin is in the middle of an unprecedented challenge to his own position as leader of Fianna Fáil. Picture: Leah Farrell /  RollingNews.ie

The presidential election might be concluded, but the controversies it set in motion continue to roll. The recriminations arising from Fianna Fáil’s decision to run Jim Gavin continue, for instance, and the party might be well advised to look further back than a month or two to see how the after-effects from a presidential election shambles can linger.

There are echoes of another disastrous presidential election campaign for Fianna Fáil. In 1990, Brian Lenihan Sr was tánaiste, a popular politician whose positive public image seemed destined to carry him to the presidency. His campaign collapsed, however, when it emerged he had been engaged in efforts to pressure then president Patrick Hillery into not dissolving the Dáil in 1982.