The dramatic withdrawal of Jim Gavin from the Fianna Fail presidential nomination has been branded a “very serious miscalculation” by an MEP who ran against him.
Mr Gavin, a retired army pilot and former Dublin Gaelic football manager, announced his departure on Sunday night, hours after facing questions over claims he owed a former tenant €3,300.
Billy Kelleher, the Corkman, MEP, and former junior minister who contested the nomination, told RTE Radio on Monday that the party "didn’t do our due diligence" in choosing Mr Gavin.
He added he had raised concerns about the process being "quite a chaotic scene" in early August. Mr Gavin, supported by Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, secured the party’s nomination last month after a contest against Mr Kelleher.
“From the perspective of individuals, you have to feel very sorry for Jim Gavin and his family,” Mr Kelleher added.
“This is a shell shock obviously to the presidential election campaign itself, and the Fianna Fail party as well, from the point of view that we don’t have a candidate in the race. So all in all, it is deeply, deeply, deeply upsetting.”
He added: “We clearly we didn’t do our due diligence, didn’t do enough of an interrogation, and that was the issue I raised at the outset.
“I was clearly concerned that there seemed to be no proper process in place, there was no scrutiny of candidates, names were being mentioned on an ad hoc basis. I thought, all in all, it was quite a chaotic scene in early August.”
He said there was no “open tendering” for people to put themselves forward as a candidate and the decision seemed “preordained” when, he said, party members should be consulted.
“We can’t have a situation where a candidate is pushed to the parliamentary party under extreme pressure on members, and then we find halfway through the campaign that the candidate wasn’t prepared, was under huge pressure, and we end up now in a situation where we don’t have a candidate.”
He refrained from commenting on what it means for Mr Martin’s leadership, saying it was up to members of the Dail.
Mr Kelleher added that he did not expect “anything to change from that perspective over the next couple of weeks or months”, but said that decisions that were made “must have consequences”.
“It was very, very evident that there was full support [being] given to Mr Gavin from Micheal Martin and others in the leadership,” he said.
“But I think what we really have to do initially is just to assess the process, how it went so horribly wrong, so quickly.”
He added: “Obviously, an awful lot of people are very upset over this. I mean, we have Fianna Fail members right across the entire country, Fianna Fail voters that have nobody to vote for or campaign for in this particular election, and that does have consequences from a party perspective.
“We can’t have a situation where this is just swept under the carpet and we all move on.
“It’s a very serious miscalculation. It has caused an awful lot of trauma, both to individuals, in terms of Jim Gavin and his family, and more broadly than to the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, and the integrity of how we actually assess candidates.”
Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers said the withdrawal of Jim Gavin as a presidential candidate was “really disappointing” but “the right decision”.
Mr Chambers said a “clear contradiction” emerged over the weekend between what Mr Gavin had said about the issue initially and a former tenant who came forward with documentation.
He said a press query was submitted to the party on Thursday and was answered on Friday after engaging with Mr Gavin.
“At that time, he said he had no record or recollection of the particular issue that was set out in the article on Saturday,” Mr Chambers told RTE Radio on Monday.
“Subsequently, on Saturday, the tenant in question contacted the party and said that they did have records relating to this particular issue, and that was contrary to what the party had been told and what had been said on Friday, and it was clear that that was emerging as a very serious issue.
“That was put to Jim and obviously there was engagement with him, and then over the weekend it was clear that there was absolutely veracity to what the tenant had said.”
He said Mr Gavin then “retrieved partial records” which “confirmed that this was an issue”.
Asked about Mr Martin’s leadership, Mr Chambers said he would “absolutely” continue to lead the Fianna Fail party until the transfer of power to Fine Gael as part of the coalition government deal struck in January.
“I think there’s still, and will continue to be, significant and unanimous support for Micheal Martin as leader of our party and as Taoiseach of the country, his continued contribution to national politics as well.
“Obviously, we’ll have a broader discussion and reflection on what has emerged. But we had a democratic process and obviously what has emerged in the last 48 hours is devastating for everyone involved.”
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