Choosing Jim Gavin as FF presidential candidate was a 'serious miscalculation', says Billy Kelleher 

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher has declined to voice confidence in Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s leadership after the party’s presidential candidate Jim Gavin spectacularly withdrew from the race last night.

Two Cork Fianna Fáil TDs have also expressed disquiet about the judgement of the party leadership in the wake of the collapse of its presidential election strategy.

News of Mr Gavin’s withdrawal from the presidential race broke late last night and followed reports that Mr Gavin had failed to repay more than €3,000 paid to him in error by a former tenant.

In a statement, the former Air Corps pilot and former Dublin GAA football manager said: “I made a mistake that was not in keeping with my character and the standards I set myself. I am now taking steps to address the matter.

“I have also thought long and hard about the potential impact of the ongoing campaign on the wellbeing of my family and friends.

“Taking all these considerations on board, I have decided to withdraw from the presidential election contest with immediate effect and return to the arms of my family.” 

Correct decision

In a statement issued last night Mr Martin said he fully understood Mr Gavin's decision and believed “it is the correct one”.

“Jim has accepted that he made an error in relation to an issue that has arisen in recent days.

“He himself has said the office of Uachtarán na hÉireann is the highest in the land and the pinnacle of public service. He is clear that he does not want to bring controversy onto this office.

“This has been a very difficult decision for Jim given his commitment to public service.” 

Mr Kelleher, who unsuccessfully contested the Fianna Fáil nomination for the presidential election, losing out to Mr Gavin, said the party will have to have a “full discussion” on what he described as “a very serious miscalculation”.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, the Cork MEP declined to comment on what the dramatic withdrawal means for Mr Martin, but he said the party clearly “didn’t do our due diligence”.

Concerned

“I was clearly concerned that there seemed to be no proper process in place, there was no scrutiny of candidates, names were being mentioned on an ad hoc basis. I thought, all in all, it was quite a chaotic scene in early August,” he said.

Asked if Mr Martin’s leadership was badly damaged, he said: “I think what we really have to do initially is just to assess the process, how it went so horribly wrong, so quickly.” 

Mr Kelleher said the development was “deeply, deeply, deeply upsetting” for party members.

“I mean, we have Fianna Fáil members right across the entire country, Fianna Fáil voters, that have nobody to vote for or campaign for in this particular election, and that does have consequences from a party perspective.” 

Mr Kelleher said there would have to be “consequences”, but he said the future leadership of the party was a “discussion for another day”.

“We can’t have a situation where this is just swept under the carpet and we all move on.

“It’s a very serious miscalculation. It has caused an awful lot of trauma, both to individuals, in terms of Jim Gavin and his family, and more broadly than to the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, and the integrity of how we actually assess candidates.” 

Unacceptable

Pádraig O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North Central TD, said the party’s electorate would be denied a candidate of their own.

“They are now faced with the prospect of voting for a Fine Gael candidate or a hard left candidate and to me that’s unacceptable and unconscionable,” he said.

Asked who he would vote for, Mr O’Sullivan said: “I will be voting, but I genuinely don’t know who I’ll be voting for”.

Mr O’Sullivan, who had managed Mr Kelleher’s campaign for the party nomination, said he had a level of sympathy for Mr Gavin.

“He was thrown in at the deep end, completely unprepared, due diligence clearly wasn’t done, and there has to be repercussions, and there has to be a radical rethink about the way the party is treated and the way party business is conducted.” 

Asked if Mr Martin’s leadership was damaged, Mr O’Sullivan said: “I think the party is in a very, very bad state at the moment, people will feel voiceless now, they will have a candidate denied to them, and I think all members of the party need to reflect and ask where it all went wrong”.

Novice

Seamus McGrath, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South Central, said that while he had huge sympathy for Mr Gavin and his family, in his own view “he should never have been the party candidate”.

“He was a total political novice and asked to run in the most brutal of all political campaigns, and I think that was poor judgement.

“In terms of where we go from here, I want to have a parliamentary party meeting as soon as possible so that we can have a full and frank discussion,” Mr McGrath said.

“Beyond that, I just want to afford the leadership the opportunity to address the parliamentary party and that needs to happen ASAP.” 

Even before the story broke about Mr Gavin’s difficulties with his former tenant, his campaign had been in serious trouble, Mr McGrath said.

“Numerous Fianna Fáil people had told me they weren’t voting for him, they could see he hadn’t got the level of experience that would be required to be president.” 

As a validly nominated candidate, Mr Gavin’s name is likely to remain on the ballot paper for the presidential election.

Mr Martin was asked by The Echo for comment.