FIANNA FÁIL TD and PAC Chairman John McGuinness has said he would consider challenging Micheál Martin’s leadership if action’s not taken to address the party’s direction.
The Carlow-Kilkenny TD was speaking to KCLR’s Sue Nunn show this morning.
McGuinness, who has previously stated his long-term ambition to lead the party, said that if action’s not taken to bring about change “there will obviously be difference of opinion”.
He said if that happened “there will a case where you step in for a leadership challenge”.
Speaking this morning, Martin said that the party had achieved a “significant result” coming from a low base, particularly in Dublin.
“Look where we’re coming from,” he told Newstalk.
He said that in many cases the party had surpassed the targets it set for itself heading into the local elections.
By and large, we’re now at 24.4 per cent, we’re ahead of Fine Gael on the first count it looks at the moment.
He said the result gave them a “critical mass to compete in a competitive way in the General Election”.
Once again, he attempted to avoid talking about Mary Hanafin, who won a seat in the Blackrock ward of Dun Laoghaire.
He referred to Kate Feeney, who also claimed a seat as ‘the party candidate’ and said she had done “very well”.
“There’s a number of options across that constituency now as a result of this local election,” Martin said.
He said the party’s rules and procedures committee was still examining the controversy surrounding Hanafin’s decision to continue with her candidacy in the ‘Battle of Blackrock‘.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say