FF basks in party’s speedy return to centre stage

World of Politics with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com

Five years ago, in 2011, Fianna Fáil held its first post-electoral think-in in Tallaght in Dublin – and it was as low-key as a gathering of the Freemasons’ Lodge.

One of the twenty TDs who survived the bloodbath election of that February crystal-balled the next election in 2016 saying it would only be a ‘modest staging post’. He spoke about a recovery that would take 15 years.

He was spectacularly wrong. It was a reminder of the fluidity of Irish politics and the fickleness of its electorate.

The one question Micheál Martin wasn’t asked during a punishingly long doorstep interview at the Fianna Fáil think-in in Carlow this week was about his mojo.

Unlike Enda Kenny, we all know Martin grabbed his back last February and has not let go of it since.

No party has skipped through the post-electoral landscape with such jauntiness and swagger as Fianna Fáil.

Micheál Martin practically beamed his way through endless questions on Monday, radiating no self-doubt. No longer do we hear questions about his leadership. No longer do people muse about him being the first Fianna Fáil leader never to become Taoiseach.

Parliamentary party think-ins have become a staple of political life – politics’ answer to pre-season friendly. Each of the parties arranges for its TDs and Senator to meet for two days in the run-up to the Oireachtas resuming.

It’s usually in a hotel outside Dublin. In the Celtic Tiger days, it used to be five star all the way. In more recent years the venues have been slightly more modest and less showy. Fianna Fáil choice of a very nondescript hotel in Tallaght in 2011 was the prime example.

There have been times at these events when we have seen a genuine change in strategy, or some new ideas. In 2004, Fianna Fáíl met at Inchdoney in Co Cork. Afterwards Bertie Ahern emerged to declare himself a socialist and announced Fianna Fáíl was being resteered to the left.

Usually, though, the thinking has come from others. Guest speakers are invited. The choice usually reflects the direction the party wants to go – a fiery union leader, or an academic economist advocating steep tax cuts at the marginal rate.

For the most part, it’s a media event. There’s a big door-step interview at the start with uncontested coverage on TV and radio. The parties informally coordinate them with each other to ensure no clashes and that everything runs smoothly.

I was at the Sinn Féin one last week and the Fianna Fáil one earlier this week. All of the questions directed at Adams surrounded his leadership and when he intended to step down. The same theme predominated at Fine Gael.

Read Harry’s column in full in this week’s Connacht Tribune.