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DESPITE THE NEAR universal support Micheál Martin has received from the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party for his stance on rebel MEP Brian Crowley, this has not been a good week for him.
The already fiercely independent Crowley has joined a group of “headbangers” – to quote the party whip Seán Ó Fearghail – and there are but few in Fianna Fáil who would support the move.
The only concession that some can give to the currently hospitalised Crowley is that he should at least be allowed explain himself. While Senator Mark Daly has pointed out he did not support the motion.
But the Ireland South MEP’s open defiance of the leadership leaves Fianna Fáil without a single MEP in Brussels, a further blow to the party after an already disastrous European election result.
Prior to the poll, one candidate, Thomas Byrne, said that winning two seats “would not be a good result”. Winning just one and then losing it is a dreadful outcome for Fianna Fáil.
Almost forgotten is the fact the party has significantly recovered at local government level to become the largest in the State. Though Sinn Féin’s success and the government’s kicking dominated much of the coverage, Fianna Fáil’s recovery should not be overlooked.
But poor Martin has hardly had time to enjoy the result because he has had to deal with a (since resolved) split among party councillors in Limerick, the Niall Collins letter row, and now Crowley’s defection in Europe.
These problems underline the extent to which Martin is, increasingly, losing control over his TDs, Senators, councillors and prospective councillors who are happy to defy him knowing that the consequences are, on the evidence so far, never fatal.
Take Éamon Ó Cuív’s open defiance of the party line on the Fiscal Treaty in February 2012 which saw him depart as deputy leader, but only temporarily consigned to the backbenches until he was quietly brought back into the fold as agriculture spokesperson in July of that same year.
Then last summer, dozens of the party’s TDs and senators defied Martin over the abortion issue voting against the legislation. The party leader allowed a free vote and tried to pass this off as indicative of the party’s willingness to consider free votes on matters of conscious.
But in reality he couldn’t bring his parliamentary party with him on the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill and it was another blow to his authority. Having allowed a free vote, there were of course no sanctions. Even when senator Jim Walsh’s graphic description of abortion was criticised by his own colleagues, he faced no sanction.
Then there was the much-publicised Battle of Blackrock where the party, frankly, made a complete balls of the attempts to entice Mary Hanafin to run for a seat on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council before asking her to withdraw her nomination.
Despite Martin pleading with her to withdraw three times, his former Cabinet colleague ran anyway and won a seat. Though she was subject of an investigation by the party, no disciplinary action was taken and she is, in her own words, “all official again”.
These examples are indicative of Martin’s approach to rebels: They are allowed to defy his leadership, punishment is briefly mooted or not spoken of at all, and then rebels are quietly allowed back into the fold.
The unanimous condemnation of Crowley’s defection is perhaps an aberration on this occasion but don’t be surprised if at some stage in the future the man who can garner 180,000 first preference votes returns to the Fianna Fáil fold.
Martin didn’t exactly close the door on such an event during an appearance on RTÉ News last night, saying that if Crowley returned from the eurosceptic ECR to the more liberal ALDE grouping in the European Parliament, he could be allowed back in.
Some might view this as a mature approach to leadership, whereby party members are allowed to take divergent views, but the political reality is that it only serves to undermine Martin’s leadership.
He has done some good work in rebuilding the party – the introduction of one member-one vote is an example – but the Crowley affair and others over the past three years are a reminder that he is far from secure in his role.
I’ll just have to check their website or social media while driving now for updates….
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Could this possibly be connected? https://www.broadsheet.ie/2019/02/07/jam-today-rte-and-aa-roadwatch/
@Here’s How Podcast: Full story on the podcast here: https://blog.hereshow.ie/2019/02/heres-how-82-rte-and-the-aa/
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: You might have to pay for this service now|
Elaine o Sullivan AA road watch ! I’m gonna miss her voice
@Marko: and Ester Moore ODonoghue
@Marko: Arwen Foley was the one for me.
@Alan McArdle: Lorraine Keane anyone?
@Bill Spill: I certainly would. Met her at electric office many years ago. What a lady
@Adrian O’Donnell: Electric Office? Were you having a picnic together?
@Marko: sometimes sounded like she said the A 3 times. Maybe she’d been out the night before.
No more rind-a-bits being busy so.
@theseadoc: nothing will stop the dunkettle interchange being blocked
@Stuart:
@Stuart:
@Stuart: ah the memories of random places we only know through this broadcast! They might not even exist half of them.
Typical big buyer slashing overheads, and never mind who it affects.
@John Nolan: Ridiculous comment. Are they not entitled to make business decisions in their own interests? Why don’t you set up a traffic notification service and provide it to radio stations if it means so much to you?
What ever became of electric Eddie, eye in the sky… Probably dead and buried somewhere on the Con Colbert road, the only location with traffic back in the day
@Shay Murray: it’s driver is stuck at the Red Cow Roundabout
Who’s going to provide traffic reports for the radio stations now ? It’s a major loss for serious road users. It was fantastic to hear the traffic reports on the hour after the news and if something was happening on the road your driving on, you were notified of it. Another backwards step. In the UK, you don’t even have to wait for the news, the traffic reports interrupt whatever station your listening to.
@Sean Walsh: that is because the traffic situation in the UK is an absolute ball breaker. Not even comparable to here. Or was a ball breaker, pre covid..
Laren behan … a beautiful voice !
How will I find my in into the meeja now, love island won’t take me, AA roadwatch gone, crimewatch auditions go nowhere, and I won’t stoop to fair city levels just yet!
At least that’s a few annoying voices off the airwaves.
Useless anyway. Radio reports are brutal. Dublin 103.2 for traffic reports in real time.
@Jimmy Reid: hasn’t been the same since John left though.
Was never helpful to me. Everytime it was the same report “traffic heavy on the dunnekettle” its always heavy.
@Michael: The AA are losing money – most if not all insurance companies or garages provide breakdown cover
Have they an app? They could seek to integrate their real time info with Google maps.
@HarveyLemonade: Where there’s a will, there’s a Waze.
@HarveyLemonade: you can see traffic build ups on Google maps and Apple maps if you Amber lines on maps that’s traffic build up and red lines is traffic at a stop. Also Apple maps is eventually bringing in incident reporting to Ireland like Waze where you can report traffic, accidents speed checks etc
Patnav on Nova will have to do.
A fantastic podcast on the whole situation.
https://blog.hereshow.ie/2019/02/heres-how-82-rte-and-the-aa/?ref=Broadsheet
Bring back The eye in the Sky ! Helicopter service.
They were always rubbish anyway. I well remember the bad old days when I lived in Kildare, and you’d regularly hit a monster traffic jam on the N7 that AA Roadwatch would conveniently have forgotten to mention.
Lorraine Keane, AA Roadwatch
Why? Nooooooooo!
No more helpful mentions of their names by RTÉ presenters in order to help them up on the “celebrity” bandwagon ” ah well Swings and rindeabouts I suppose.
No more traffic “Nooze” then?
Karen Chew all day long.
Anyone remember the ozzie girl,BUMPER TO BUMPER..
@Peter Bell: that does rind a bell Peter.
@Peter Bell: that does ring a bell Peter.
Can’t read websites while driving
Delighted.
The AA and RTÉ themselves are no longer of any relevance.
What motorist would wish to have constant blabbering on a radio, same format from the same sounding stations who constantly have to announce their frequency or name to stay relevant.
Get an iPod or a subscription to Spotify or similar.
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