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THE NEWER AND larger Fianna Fáil parliamentary party gathered for the first time in Leinster House today amid a buoyant mood following its election success.
Micheál Martin’s party secured an unexpected 44 seats in last Friday’s general election. Many of the newly-elected TDs were in Leinster House for the first-time today, as well as old faces who’ve won back seats they lost in 2011.
The parliamentary party met for just under 90 minutes in Leinster House with the mood described as “exhilarating” by one TD who said there was a sense that Fianna Fáil is “very much back in business”.
Sources said afterwards there was no substantial discussion around the issue of coalition talks with Fine Gael or any other party.
While some TDs believe there is a realistic prospect of Fianna Fáil being part of or even leading the next government – despite being the smaller party – others believe it will be in opposition.
“It’ll be a Fine Gael minority. There’ll be lots of talk, but we’re not going into government,” one senior Fianna Fáil said afterwards, predicting there will be another election in 18 months.
One TD said it would be a “long game” when it came to any government negotiations. Earlier the newly-elected Marc MacSharry told RTÉ’s News at One repeatedly that there are no negotiations underway with other parties.
Today’s meeting focussed on securing support for the election of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach when the 32nd Dáil meets for the first time next Thursday.
The party’s position on water charges was clarified with Fianna Fáil making clear it expects people to continue paying their bills as it is the law on the land, despite the party’s position that charges should be abolished.
“People have to pay their charges. If they’ve bills, they must be honoured,” one TD said after the meeting.
Fianna Fáil has committed to abolishing Irish Water and suspending water charges for five years if in government.
Reports that the party would examine a future tax credit for the households who have already paid their bills have been dismissed and Fianna Fáil is not proposing to refund those who’ve already paid charges.
The whole water charges issue is likely to be key in any discussions with Fine Gael in the coming weeks.
Fianna Fáil also agreed to pick one nominee for the position of Ceann Comhairle with four TDs having made their interest known.
TDs Micheal Moynihan, Brendan Smith, Seán Ó Fearghaíl and Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher will all seek to be the party’s nominee for the position of Dáil chair.
A vote of the parliamentary party will select the nominee and this will be held when Fianna Fáil meets again on Monday at 3pm.
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Colum Eastwood used the Fianna Fáil tactic of attacking Sinn Féin, instead of putting his own policies forward. Its not working for Mícheál Martin and it didn’t work for Colum.
@Tommy Berry: Excellent point. The main parties have to learn that the only way they will get re-elected in the future is by delivering on their promises and actually work for the benefit of Ireland and it’s people.
The younger generation don’t care about wars that ended decades ago. They want to have a country where they can work, own a house, start a family and live well off their hard work.
At the moment, they can’t buy a home, have half their income sent to Revenue to be wasted by wasters and their only way out is to move to a real country to have a quality of life.
@David Corrigan: are you referring to the North or South there DC as NI has a housing crisis that is worse than ours, cost of living has sky rocketed, the NHS is on it’s knees, the worst education system in the UK apparently, a poor welfare system, the highest number of employees in public sector in the UK and would have a refugee crisis if not for a £15bn annual subvention from London. This is all under a SF/DUP coalition. Let’s hope MON can turn this around quickly as First Minister or it could be the shortest term since the establishment of the Assembly. No more hiding behind a DUP First Minister. The voters expect results, quickly. The hurling on the ditch is over.
@GrumpyAulFella: I’m talking about the south and the main parties lack of performance. Why would you expect things to turn around in one term when things could not have been improved in over 100 years of FF/FG in charge?
Nobody is certain SF will improve things in time or at all even but we have to get away from FG/FF for a while. They simply have no interest in working to make our country a great country for all the citizens.
@Tommy Berry: ff and fg did the sdlp no favors canvasing for them .toxic party’s the both of them
@David Corrigan: but FF/FG have only been in power for 2 years as partners have they not. You expect miracles in 2 years over a global pandemic yet you want the Shinners to get 8-10 years to make a difference in NI??? Sure how long have SF been in partnership with their unionist colleagues in the assembly at this point? Who is the Minister responsible for Housing? Who is the Finance minister? The hard questions will be coming thick and fast now.
@GrumpyAulFella: are you really suggesting that FF and FG have had influence in this country for the last two years only? If that’s the last line you have for defending their policies it just goes to show how naive you are.
@GrumpyAulFella: Are you serious?
@GrumpyAulFella: You obviously don’t understand the system of government in the six counties. Bless.
@GrumpyAulFella:
@GrumpyAulFella: that reply beats meholes ‘we didn’t bail out the banks’..tough day for you pal your better than that
Kiss of death having Fianna Fáil , Fianna Gael & Labour canvassing for the SDLP partitioning parties one & all
Instead of sneering and taking cheap pot shots as sinn Fein at every turn maybe the SDLP need to take a step away from fianna fail/Gael and labour parties and form a nationalist alliance with sinn fein in stormont,they have run a terrible strategy in these elections
@doyle: hmm where have we seen those tactics before?
Journal, I think you should take down that photo of Michelle O’Neill before you get sued.
@Martello Mulligan: lol right out of meeholes joke book.
@Martello Mulligan: your so funny ..sour grapes and lots of them,.. boo hoo save it for ur mates in the oubt
@Michael Nolan: pub …god dam it
@Martello Mulligan: What makes you think that? I’m sure you will discover if you look into it politicians from other political parties have brought cases against the media. Like Michael Martin you seen to have a memory loss.
@James Reardon: I see you’re an aficionado of meeholism. How clever. I suppose SmellyLouism would have you in stitches too.
@Michael Nolan: Damn. You’re welcome.
@Donal Desmond: I must have missed the weird photo of MM on this article. Oops.
@Martello Mulligan: No photo of Martin in the article, but your comment concerning the journal being sued by Michelle O’Neill while ignoring other politicians from other political parties who sued the media just reminded me of Martin when he stated there was no bank bailout. That’s where memory loss enters.
@Martello Mulligan: easy money suing rte nearly all cases defamatory and settled..it’s what happens when you have a one sided media…mehole fartin
@Donal Desmond: Got it. Your comment about MM and the bank bailout reminds me of The Banks of My Own Lovely Lee. That’s not to forget The Rose of Mooncoin, Slievenamon, Molly Malone, Lovely Leitrim, The Rose of Tralee, and The Sash Me Father Wore.
@Brian Burns: Sorry to hear about your flatulence issues. Have you tried cutting back on the coffee?
This was apparent from the polls.
There is one reason and one reason only that the SDLP performs so poorly in northern elections. Not unsurprisingly, nationalists want their political representatives to actually work towards bringing about Irish reunification. The SDLP has never done that, never promised to do it and doesn’t care if it ever happens now. The revered late John Hume, in his positioning of the SDLP as a ‘post-nationalist’ party is the cause of the party’s decline. Of course, let’s not forget Fitt the Brit, selling out the Irish people and taking the Queen’s Shilling. The SDLP, whatever it is, is not a nationalist party any more, if ever it was. If one wants a united Ireland, one cannot and must not vote for the SDLP. The SDLP has let down the nationalist and republican community too often by acting not in nationalist interests but to appease an intransigent unionism. Sinn Féin does not apologise for our being Irish or for our desire for freedom and reunification and works persistently but politely to waken unionism up to its numerical and electoral decline and remind them they are not the only people worth consideration and in a democracy they have to abide by the reasonable desire of the majority, with guarantees to uphold their rights as equal with everyone else in Ireland, rights and guarantees Sinn Féin would make sure were upheld, unlike what was done to Irish people in the north for 50 years after partition. Sinn Féin are no longer the bogeymen they’re made out to be. There is no more IRA because of Sinn Féin. The struggle for freedom was made constitutional by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, inter alia, not by David Trimble or John Hume. Sinn Féin has stuck religiously to the commitments it made on signing the GFA. Not many other parties can say the same. Neither Michelle O’Neill nor Mary Lou McDonald were or are in the IRA or the Army Council. The continuing attempts to demonise them in that respect is tiresome and, ultimately, futile. In the north, Irish people trust Sinn Féin. In the south, Irish people support Sinn Féin more than any other party. So many Irish people cannot all be wrong. Time to change the narrative, please..
Eastwood mentioned Pearse and a few more 1916 leaders when he questioned “why are we still calling stadiums after terrorists” that really got peoples goats up big time, those that had intended to vote for SDLP changed their minds
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