Martin finds his MoJo just in time for battle

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

I don’t think we are going to see “Martin for Taoiseach” posters going up anywhere soon – but there is little doubt Fianna Fáil had a good Ard Fheis at City West in Dublin on Saturday.

Micheal Martin delivered by a well-crafted speech that was well-received by the troops. It’s tone of defiance was necessary – if ever a party needed to assert itself this was it.

The spring general election has resulted in January has become conference season and I will be devoting my columns over the next few weeks to analyse them.

Fine Gael will hold its conference in the same City West venue next week, with Labour holding court in the Willie Penrose stronghold of Mullingar the following week.

Poor old Sinn Fein. The party was due to hold its Ard Fheis in February but now looks like it will be timed out by the election – so it has moved it close to Easter.

There was a perception that Fianna Fáil has been in a holding pattern for a long time now, and just could not make the decision to go for the runway.

What was missing? Well, a clear definition of what it was and what it stood for, for starters. An election slogan, too. And a range of policies to distinguish itself from the government.

In City West, it unveiled an election slogan – “An Ireland for All” – and had a good stab at outlining what it is. And then Micheál Martin delivered his best leadership address during his time as leader.

He threw down the gauntlet to Fine Gael, saying that they would not be elected by acclamation.

“They want a coronation and not an election. Well this is a republic and we don’t do coronations. The Irish people will decide.”

Martin needed to put in a strong performance. The party has flatlined in opinion polls over the past 18 months, has had difficulty spelling out what it stands for, and faces endless persistent questions about possible coalition arrangements.

There were no killer lines in his speech, but it was well crafted, with populist criticism of Enda Kenny. We heard the kind of whoops and yahoos in the hall that have been unheard for many years.

His lines lent themselves to such primal hollering. One of the best was directed at his biggest rival:  “He is fond of telling stories about men with pints and the army at ATMs. The biggest fairy tale is the tale of recovery.”

The party’s message is starting to have a coherence that was lacking until now. The Ard Fheis helped put some flesh on the bones and showed the beginning of what might be a plausible alternative.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.