Wicklow-Wexford TD says Micheál Martin lacks urgency and is “unlikely” to lead Fianna Fáil into general election
The Wicklow PeopleA Fianna Fáil TD has said he believes it will be “unlikely” that Micheál Martin will lead his party into the next general election.
Wicklow-Wexford TD Malcom Byrne made his comments on Newstalk Breakfast on Tuesday, as tensions grow within Fianna Fáil over the party’s failed presidential election campaign, with many TDs declining to say if they will support the Taoiseach as he prepares to enter his 15th year as party leader in 2026.
Though he would not be drawn on a timeline, Mr Byrne said: “I think it would be unlikely that he will lead us into the next election.”
He added that critical to his continued leadership will be how urgently the Taoiseach addresses key concerns.
“Mr Martin should be having meetings every Monday morning with organisations like Uisce Eireann, the ESB and approved housing bodies to keep pressure on them about the delivery of services necessary for more homes to be built.” he told Newstalk Breakfast.
“Every Monday morning all the key players around housing should be around the table,” he added.
Mr Byrne said Mr Martin’s leadership was an issue for the Taoiseach and the party, highlighting the slow pace of delivery on housing as an issue of “far greater urgency”.
Mr Byrne said a lot of concerns among the members of the party were not being properly addressed.
“That’s where our frustration is. Because I suppose there was a sense we weren’t listened to during the presidential election, and we trusted the Taoiseach.
“And maybe a lot of that is on us as members of the parliamentary party. Maybe we should have asked more questions, but the real issue here now is about us as politicians taking control of these issues and starting to make a lot more progress.”
Deputy Byrne believes the presidential campaign was “disastrous” for the party, after their candidate Jim Gavin pulled out of the contest midway through the campaign.
There is to be a review and following that a discussion around how candidates would be selected in the future, but Mr Byrne thinks the bigger challenge was “the frustration of the middle ground within the party”.
He added: “What’s happened is in many ways, unfortunately, we’ve seen too many decisions being left to unelected advisors, to State agencies, to civil servants. And in many cases, they either won’t take the decision or lack the necessary ambition and urgency that we want to see in terms of those decisions being taken. So, this is the message we’re saying to the leader.
“Among the back benches there is this frustration that we feel that a lot of our concerns are not being listened to. I mean, on the housing issue, because it’s very personal, it’s because people I know, friends of mine, extended family members, you done everything right, who worked hard, who got a good job. And yet, they’re finding it difficult to be able to afford a home.”
Mr Byrne confirmed he is not one of 12 TDs who have signed a no confidence motion in the Taoiseach.
He welcomed the fact that Mr Martin was now engaging and meeting backbenchers to address their concerns.
“I’m going to be meeting with him later today. He’s an experienced politician so he should be able to read the room.”
Fianna Fáil are not the only party licking their wounds after election defeat. Fine Gael’s Wicklow-Wexford TD Brian Brennan spoke to RTÉ Radio 1 over the weekend, where he said the party needs to "learn lessons" from the result of the presidential election, describing the party's selection process as "not fit for purpose".
Deputy Brennan, who supported MEP Sean Kelly’s bid to be the Fine Gael candidate, said he felt the connection between the leadership of the party and its grassroots "could be better".
He also called to open the selection process so that local party members could participate.
"There should be a contest. I should have been able to organise a bus here in Gorey and Arklow, bring my people, that walked in the rain and knocked on the doors for me.
"They're members of our party, they should have been involved in the selection process and that wasn't allowed to happen because the bar was too high.
"I think Seán ended up getting between 13 and 14 votes, but he needed 20, so we didn't have an election within the party."
Asked if he thought Tánaiste Simon Harris was still the right person to lead Fine Gael, Mr Brennan said he was, but that a change of approach may be necessary.
Following the election Mr Kelly has said that he was "shafted" in being denied a chance to contest the election.
Mr Kelly believes not holding a contest to find a suitable candidate after Mairead McGuinness withdrew from the campaign doesn’t reflect the views of the parliamentary party membership.
Mr Kelly said that he felt there was a sense of disconnect within Fine Gael between the party leadership and membership.
"I would say certainly there is some kind of a disconnect, in that the vast majority of members would have welcomed an opportunity to have a contest to see who they wanted to be their preferred candidate going forward for the presidency," he said.