Revealed: Why Blackie would not conform to breaking bread with FG in Mayo
Long-serving Castlebar Councillor Blackie Gavin has been uncomfortable wearing Fianna Fáil shoes since his party entered coalition with Fine Gael following the 2020 general election.
To him, the decision was a betrayal of the political values he treasured since first being elected to public office in 1994 as a member of Castlebar Town Council.
To him, Fine Gael was always the opposition, a rival to be kept at a distance.
He was a firm critic of fellow Castlebar man Enda Kenny during his time as Fine Gael party leader and Taoiseach of the nation, terming the phrase 'Not a penny, Kenny' in regards to concerns over the absence of expected delivery to the county town, an expectation created by Fine Gael during the 'Taoiseach for Mayo' crusade.
When Kenny himself condemned his local critics by coining the term 'Mayo Whingers,' it was widely speculated that Gavin was his chief target.
And if that is true, then it represented a huge back-handed compliment to Gavin, who had utilised his seat on the former Mayo Vocational Education Committee to aim his strongest words of criticism at Kenny, a former teacher, over the lack of investment in school facilities.
Against this background, Gavin was never going to play political palsy-walsy with Fine Gael and, consequently, his close alignment with Castlebar Independent Councillor Michael Kilcoyne, became more and more apparent.
Then, predictably perhaps, he dropped a bombshell a number of weeks before the 2024 local elections.
Speaking at a meeting of the Castlebar Municipal District, he said people were 'fed up' with the state of the country and the government parties - FF and FG - were being blamed, adding the electorate were only interested in independent candidates.
“I am getting it on the doorsteps and they don't want to see us coming, they want to see independent people coming. They told me 'Blackie if you were running as an Independent we would vote for you' but they don't want to see Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael coming. I have got that message loud and clear and they don't want to see us coming,” he elaborated.
His remarks did not go down well within Fianna Fàil and the party ended up losing a seat to Independent candidate Harry Barrett while Fine Gael retained its three seats.
In the aftermath of the election when Gavin learned at a party meeting that it was in talks with Fine Gael over forming an alliance on Mayo County Council, he stormed out in protest.
Now he has joined a 10-strong technical group on the council consisting of eight independents, Sinn Fèin's Gerry Murray and Independent Ireland's Chris Maxwell.
He will now be sitting in a section of the council chamber where he will feel more comfortable.
But despite his imminent expulsion from Fianna Fàil, Gavin will still consider himself as being Fianna Fàil, albeit Independent Fianna Fàil, and the betterment of Castlebar will remain his agenda.
As regards a general election tilt, it surely can't be ruled out.
Clearly not.
(During the course of the last few days, Fianna Fáil HQ removed the name of Councillor Gavin from its party's national website as one of its elected councillors in Mayo).