A Mayo view on the trials and tribulations of Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin

by Dr. Richard Martin

George Colley died suddenly on September 17, 1983, at the age of 57. His death created a by-election in Dublin Central. Charles Haughey, his former school friend and arch nemesis, was the then leader of FF.

They both challenged for the leadership of FF when Lynch resigned in ‘79. Haughey had spent the 1970s cultivating the FF grassroots across the island. In the end it paid off. He beat Colley by 44 votes to 38. Haughey’s victory came at a price. The code of loyalty to the leader was broken.

Over the next few years three heaves were mounted. All failed. The future of the party and the country was at stake.

In October of 1982, Charlie McGreevy called a motion of no confidence in Haughey. On Wednesday, October 6, it was defeated by 58 votes to 22.

In the aftermath, Jim Gibbons was physically attacked within Leinster House itself by Haughey supporters. Two weeks later he had two heart attacks. His health never recovered. Gibbons had testified against Haughey in the’ 71 arms trial. It wasn’t forgotten.

Ben Briscoe called another motion of no confidence the following year when it was revealed that journalists phones had been tapped by the gardaí. Against all the odds, the Haughey camp held firm and survived the final heave.

This all came at a heavy price. The FF TDs were under savage pressure. Ber Cowen (father of the future Taoiseach Brian) passed away at the age of 51 in 1984.

Bill Loughnane passed away at the age of 67 in 1982.Clem Coughlan died in a car crash at the age of 40 in 1983.

Liam Hyland suffered a heart attack in Leinster House on hearing the news. Paddy Lawlor needed a pacemaker fitted. And, of course, George Colley, son of the party grandee and hero of the Easter Rising Harry, passed in late ‘83.

FF in the early ‘80s was a party riven with bitterness, suspicion and menace. It was the ultimate battle. The battle for power. A significant cohort of the party just could not and would not accept the leadership of Haughey.

In the end Dessie O’Malley was expelled from the party for ‘conduct unbecoming’ in ‘85 and founded the PDs. Eventually, FF broke the sacred ‘core value’ of single party government by entering coalition with the PDs in ‘89.

Anyway, I digress. The by-election in Dublin Central in 1983 is instructive. Given the backdrop of animosity within the party, there was huge internal debate over who the successor to Colley should be.

Haughey wanted George Stafford. Dessie O’Malley wanted Mary Colley – George Colley’s wife. Bertie had other ideas. He brought Haughey to Fagan’s pub in Drumcondra where he met Bertie’s team. They proposed a compromise candidate – Tom Leonard. Haughey was happy to leave it in his capable protege’s hands.

The whole party united behind the compromise candidate. The Colley faction canvassed Marino. The Haughey faction canvassed the inner city. In Bertie’s own words ‘Charlie had told me he would let me have my way as long as I won the seat’. The seat was won.

This leads me to the here and now. Dublin North Central. FF candidate John Stephens, in the recent by-election, received 4.2% of the first preference vote (1,049).

FF have gone from having in their heyday three of the five seats in Dublin Central to fielding a candidate who is eliminated on the second count and won’t get the deposit back. FF have serious soul searching and work to do in Dublin.

However, the real story is Sinn Féin. SF failed to win either of the two recent by-elections. The Social Democrats took Dublin Central and FG took Galway West.

Mary Lou did not want Janice Boylan as a candidate. She wanted Gillian Sherratt. The SF grassroots rejected her wishes. And in the end Boylan failed.

The leader of the main opposition party could not deliver a TD in her own backyard. That is damning, particularly in parallel with the history of FF under the leadership of Bertie in the constituency.

SF are at a crossroads. They have underestimated the intelligence of the electorate. Actually, they are facing a credibility and an identity crisis. When the Dublin riots occurred in 2023 they were at 35% in the polls.

Instead of backing law and order, they called for a motion of no confidence in the Justice Minister and Garda Commissioner. They have never recovered from that mis-step. They are hovering between 18% and 23% in the polls over the past two years.

During the recent fuel protests, SF chose to support the blockades of our ports and essential infrastructure. It has backfired spectacularly. Labour and the Soc Dems supported the protests but not the blockades. Both parties performed well in the by-elections. There’s a lesson in that.

A party that is serious about being a party of government doesn’t support anarchy. Where do they go from here?

As a party they need to have a collective moment of clarity and start being honest brokers with the electorate. Independent Ireland, Labour and the Soc Dems are making huge gains at their expense. They are being squeezed by the right and the left.

After the success of her candidate Daniel Ennis in Dublin Central the leader of the Soc Dems, Holly Cairns, said: “I think Sinn Féin may be at a crossroads with a number of issues. That’s a matter for them, but I think they need to figure out where they’re going.

“We never equivocate on issues and people really know where they stand with the Social Democrats.”

One of the lessons from the by-elections is that the silent majority on this island did not support the breakdown in law and order and the threat of anarchy during the fuel protests. It’s unprecedented for a government party to win a by-election. FG, the party of law and order, took Galway West via transfers from Labour.

Here’s an honest take. Aside from their position on the fuel protests and the Dublin riots their inability to formulate simple, credible, tangible policy on housing, cost of living and immigration is baffling.

Their housing policy is impractical and nonsensical. The citizen owns the house but doesn’t own the land it’s on?

Their inability to compose a somewhat coherent policy on immigration is even more baffling. It’s not racist to challenge the huge profits that private contractors are making in providing asylum. It’s morally wrong. An opposition party is there to hold the government to account. SF are failing abysmally in that regard.

SF’s biggest mistake is underestimating the highly intelligent and educated workforce on the island. People want practical believable solutions.

I want to take SF seriously. I really do. But logic dictates that I can’t.

I don’t think I trust them either. Based on the results in the by-elections.

The majority of the electorate feels the same way.