Fianna Fáil standing at a precipice in Mayo

By Dr. Richard Martin

FIANNA Fáil captured 48 seats in the last general election, their best GE since 2007.

They have come a long way since the annihilation of 2011 when the party was facing the abyss and its very future and existence was brought into question.

Given the scale of the task in rebuilding the party from 2011 onwards, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is arguably one of the greatest leaders FF have ever had.

However, the performance of FF in Mayo in the last GE bucked the national trend.

They only returned one TD (Dara Calleary) to the Dáil in a five-seater.

In a county that was historically anti-treaty and returned four TDs to the Dáil in 1992, much has changed over the past 30 years.

I arranged to meet Damian Ryan, a veteran FF councillor from Ballinrobe, who is the party whip in the council chamber.

I wanted his perspective on what the future holds for the party in the county town and county at large.

RM: When did you get involved in politics?

DR: I got elected to the local authority in 1999.

RM: And you're there ever since?

DR: There ever since. I've been re-elected on six occasions.

RM: Very good. And what pushed you into politics?

DR: An opportunity presented itself. We had a councillor retired in Ballinrobe and the organisation came, got on to me and asked me would I be interested. Maybe they thought the opportunity was to put in somebody young.

We've been through tough enough elections over the years. I think 2009 was an absolute tsunami in the aftermath of the economic crash. And any of us who held on, on that occasion, it was down to personal achievement, work ethic and I suppose a rate of delivery.

RM: Personal vote.

DR: Personal vote. That won it on that occasion. In Claremorris, in that election, we ran three outgoing councillors in a six-seater and I was the only Fianna Fáil councillor returned.

RM: When the tide goes out, it's personal vote.

DR: It's a personal vote. It's nothing else. And, you know, I felt that time going to the doors, there was a massive government backlash, but, you know, a lot of them were saying, we'll wait for the general election.

We're not going to take it out on you because when we needed stuff, you were there.

RM: Fair enough. You're the chief whip in Mayo County Council for Fianna Fáil now. How long have you had that job?

DR: I'd say this is my third term as whip. Since we took control of the council in 2014, we took it back that time. I became whip and Al McDonnell became chair. And that has been the arrangement since. So 2014, 2019 and now 2024.

RM: In the previous council arrangement, Fianna Fáil did a deal with the independent group. And now in this council arrangement, Fianna Fáil have decided to go into a kind of coalition with Fine Gael.

DR: Yes. That's the block now.

RM: Why did you change?

DR: So, from 2014, we formed an arrangement with an independent block of five. We reaffirmed that in 2019. And there were two very good councils. And that was for a period of 10 years, Fianna Fáil and the independents.

After the 2024 election, we looked at the numbers and collectively, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael had 21. The rest of the council then has only nine more seats.

A significant chunk of that were independents.

We felt that with a fractured council the best thing to do in 2024 was to go for stability with two firm blocks and to agree a programme for the council for the five years and that you wouldn't be going from one budget to another.

RM: So you just felt it was for the greater good of the public at large that this is the best thing to do?

DR: We felt that in the interest of stability. And I think what that does is it gives assurances to the executive, but it also puts them under pressure. We're playing our part and now it's over to the executive to play their part.

RM: You made a decision as a collective to go into a coalition with Fine Gael at local level.

DR: Al McDonnell and I negotiated two options to be put to our party. An option with a Fine Gael alliance, an option with an independent alliance.

We put the positives and the negatives to the councillors. And I didn't call a vote on it.

RM: So you gave it a fair hearing?

DR: It got a fair hearing and it was important that happened because I think out of respect to both groups, no decision should be made without all facts on the table.

And I think that the collective view was in the interest of stability, certainty and moving the county on, that the better option was the stable arrangement. And that was put to the councillors at large and the overwhelming majority went for that.

RM: OK. My close friend, also a close family friend - Blackie Gavin - was elected as a Fianna Fáil councillor. He decided then not to go ahead with this coalition.

What's your view on that?

DR: Well, in fairness, he was entitled to his view and he made that very, very clear. And I think there was the historical side of it. There was maybe looking back at the Fine Gael rate of delivery at national level and that he had serious issues with that and he would find it hard to be part of them at county level.

We are democrats and when the vote was taken, and many of the time votes have went against views that I would have myself, but collectively, if you're part of a party, you have to go with what the democracy decides, what the majority decides. The majority decided that it was the Fine Gael arrangement we were going with and he had serious reservations about that.

He made it known and, ultimately, I suppose, he told us that we couldn't rely on his support.

We still had the numbers to put through the arrangement. And I suppose he removed himself from Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil did not remove him at party level, at county level, at county council level.

He removed himself from the council group and that day he went with the independent group and he formed an independent alliance, making up a power bloc there. So he ultimately made a decision that he was going with the independents and that he was not going to be part of the Fianna Fáil group of councillors on Mayo County Council.

RM: But, you know, he was present at the Fianna Fáil convention in the lead-up to the GE.

He is still a member of Fianna Fáil.

He actively campaigned for Lisa Chambers for the general election and gave her his full support. He was present when the Taoiseach came to the town. What is the status?

DR: I'll give you my perspective on it.

As the whip on the Fianna Fáil group of councillors on Mayo County Council, he's not part of our group and has removed himself. We did not remove him. He did that by his actions on the day of the AGM in supporting and signing a pact as a technical group with the independents.

So, as far as I'm concerned, he's not part of the Fianna Fáil group of councillors. I think that's the view of all the councillors.

The next question that you've asked me, I think that's a decision for Mount Street and I think they need to be asked, as regards how they handle that.

But we as councillors have our own arrangement now and I suppose there has been many decisions. There has been a number of votes in the last 12 months in the council. He has always voted for the independents.

RM: In my lifetime, I was born in 1987, I would say that Fianna Fáil are at a complete rock bottom in Castlebar.

DR: I believe the fallout from the 2024 election result has created problems, but it has also created an opportunity to regenerate. I think we need to start looking to the future.

RM: But if you go back to 1992, there were four Fianna Fáil TDs elected out of six. Historically this county would be anti-treaty. It is a republican county. If you go back to places like Kilmeena, Newport, all these places, by and large it was an anti-treaty county.

I'm just wondering what has happened. When I was growing up, the Flynn machine, they were just invulnerable. You couldn't break them.

And that seems to be gone. The aura is gone.

DR: So I suppose things have changed a good bit.

You're absolutely right, it's an anti-treaty county by and large. Pádraig Flynn was a cabinet minister.

Things have changed, but in looking to the future, we have a cabinet minister, the ask next time is going to be two seats and nothing less will be tolerated. And I think that HQ and the leadership will have to look at this county now. They need to look at the strategy, they need to look at the problems, and they need to look towards the solutions.

RM: It has to be a Castlebar candidate though.

DR: You cannot leave the county town without a candidate. You cannot. And you have to look at the urban basis and where the centres of population are.

And maybe what we need to look at going forward is we may need to look at a three-candidate strategy with a view to returning two.

I think it's time that the organisation starts to look at the future. But that work begins now. We don't start talking about that in three years' time.

RM: My feeling is that if Fianna Fáil are to gain any ground here, they have to accept they're at rock bottom. They're at their worst place ever since the party was founded in 1926. They need youth, they need energy, and they need a clean slate.

DR: Absolutely, absolutely.

RM: And there seems to be a history of infighting within Fianna Fáil in Castlebar, members are at loggerheads.

DR: We need the organisation to be strong and united in Castlebar. We need a very active Comhairle Ceantair, and it's from there that it starts.

You build it from the ground up. I want to say this very strongly. Whoever has an interest in running for the general election next time around needs to start carving out a niche for themselves now as regards winning a council seat as that becomes the springboard for the general election.

And on it went. We spoke for well over an hour. A very interesting man, steeped in FF.

Castlebar FF is at rock bottom, but it’s also a very exciting time. The only way is up.

Names have been mentioned. Caoilinn Gaughan, Daithí Gallagher and Kieran Lavelle of the Mitchels.

The first step is to identify the right candidates. They must be competitive. Life is competitive. Sport is competitive. And politics is competitive.

Blackie and Ger Deere have been community activists since their teenage years.

It takes that level of commitment and work to be successful electorally.

It’s not enough to say the right things. The public won’t fall for that.

In this life you have make things happen. The recent past was bleak.

The near future is bright.

The shifting sands of politics never cease to fascinate me.

Incipiant ludi.