CHRISTMAS IS A time of reflection, and Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín believes 2024 was a brilliant year for his party. 

“The story of the [general] election, in many ways, was the impact that Aontú had on many of the issues and debates,” he told The Journal. 

In November’s general election, Tóibín’s party won two seats – his own in Meath West and first-time TD Paul Lawless’ in Mayo.

Securing 3.9% of first preference votes nationally also means that for the first time in the party’s history, it will have access to State funding, which Tóibín has long flagged as an important milestone. 

In Irish general elections, a political party must receive at least 2% of first preference votes nationally to secure State funding for the forthcoming Dáil term. 

While Tóibín claims to be very happy with the year that was for Aontú, the party leader did receive criticism during the general election campaign for not lifting up other voices in his party more. 

During the three week campaign, Tóibín took part in an RTÉ debate on Limerick instead of putting his Limerick candidate forward to participate as other parties had.

There was also a moment during the party’s manifesto launch, where Tóibín was sat on stage with three female candidates but had to be prompted by a reporter an hour into the event to introduce them and allow them to respond to some questions. 

During that same event, as part of a back-and-forth on the party’s position on abortion, Tóibín spoke over councillor Emer Tóibín (Peadar’s sister) and continued to answer the questions related to women’s healthcare. 

Looking back would he have done any of this differently, and does he think he has promoted other voices in his party enough? 

“As it happened, on the night of the Limerick Prime Time debate, our candidate was just unwell, unfortunately. But I will say, one of the differences between ourselves and the other political parties is we have grown organically and I think that’s quite significant,” Toíbín told The Journal.

He made the point that the 43 Aontú candidates in the election are “working their way up to different levels”.

“We got eight people elected in the council election, so many of those people are just finding their feet in terms of being able to articulate messages on the media.

“We were lucky to have Paul Lawless elected because Paul is actually a very good speaker and will be a very good messenger for us over the next while, and that’s why we’re also looking for a Seanad seat, so that we’ll have at least three people to articulate the Aontú message in Leinster House.

“​​I think what you’re seeing now is other personalities within the party starting to emerge who are very capable of, first of all, campaigning and winning seats, but also being able to carry the party message in relation to the media as well,” Tóibín said.

Aontú’s growth

It was put to Tóibín that his party is trying to distance itself from the issue that is responsible for its formation; abortion. 

Aontú was set up in 2019 by Tóibín when he left Sinn Féin the previous year over its stance on abortion. Prior to leaving the party, Tóibín was suspended when he broke ranks with Sinn Féin policy by voting against legislation in the Dáil to liberalise abortion.

Aontu’s website proclaims it to be a “100% pro-life party” and states that abortion is the “human rights debate of our generation”. Despite this, Tóibín did not address it as an issue during his speech at the manifesto launch during the election. 

Was it because he sees it as a divisive issue that will limit his party’s growth? And will Aontú ever be a broad church on the issue? 

“First of all, it hasn’t limited our growth. We’ve had the highest growth of any political party in this election it’s fair to say, statistically [this is because almost no other party had just 1 TD in the last Dáil].

“So I think it’s very interesting the premise of your question, really, I suppose the opposite is the case in reality,” Tóibín said. 

He continued: “I know this might sound strange, but I was honestly asked that question about the issue of abortion more by journalists than I was at the thousands of doors that I canvassed.

“And also I will say that we were asked that question by journalists before the elections who haven’t asked that question in five years either. I do feel that sometimes there is an effort to pigeonhole Aontú and I will say that we’ve proved very resistant to that pigeonholing.

“There is an incredibly broad and deep spectrum of issues that we’re working on,” Toíbín concluded. 

The next five years

Aontú’s two TDs have joined the regional group of Independents in the Dáil, a group that is headed up by Tipperary TD Michael Lowry. 

Given how Tóibín has built a brand on government accountability and transparency, how does he marry this with being in a Dáil grouping headed up by a person who has been charged with multiple counts of filing incorrect tax returns as well as being embroiled in numerous political scandals? 

“Being part of a technical group neither states an association or an alliance or a support to any other TD within that technical group,” Tóibín said. 

In his eyes, it is “purely” about access to speaking time in the Dáil.

Despite being part of the regional group of Independents, who are currently involved in government formation talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, Aontú are not involved in the talks that are currently ongoing. 

Tóibín ruled his party out of talks with Fine Gael during the election campaign but said he would be happy to work with Fianna Fáil because he sees the party as “an empty, hollow husk” that would be easier to direct. 

“There was a day when Fianna Fáil stood for Irish unity, where they stood for the Irish language, where they stood for small farmers, where they stood for the building of public housing…

“In many ways, Fianna Fáil was considered the kind of Irish Labour Party for decades in this country.” 

Now though? 

“I do think, unfortunately, Fianna Fáil has lost their way under Micheál Martin. I would put the blame for this under Micheál Martin’s hyper-pragmatic style…The tool of sticking the finger in the air to find out which way the wind is blowing and going in that direction.”

Having said this, Tóibín sees Fianna Fáil as “less ideological” than Fine Gael. 

“Unfortunately, Fine Gael’s ideology is negative to the development of the country.

“I think there’s a Tory instinct at the back of Fine Gael’s ideology, which is very harsh.

“It undermines the safety net that we want to provide in housing, health, education in the country. Therefore Fianna Fáil are easier to direct in this particular way.”

So that’s a no to Aontú in government then? 

“I’ve let Jack Chambers know that I’m available to discuss government formation with Fianna Fáil, if it does not include Fine Gael. Jack has come back to me, and he said he passed this message on to Micheál Martin.” 

And that was the last Tóibín has heard. 

He believes, however, that in government formation talks Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are “practically the one party”.

Does he think both parties should merge? 

“I do, there’s only a cigarette paper between them. There’s only branding between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael,” Tóibín said.

“And practically only branding between Labour and the Social Democrats as well,” he added.