Gavin at heart of post-Ring/Kenny era plotline in Mayo

All Ireland Whinger column - by Caoimhín Rowland

MY preference is for two candidates, said Mayo senator Lisa Chambers on Aidan Crowley’s Grapevine programme on CRCfm last Friday week. The very next day, the big hitter of Paul McNamara announced his withdrawal from the nomination process.

I doubt those events were related, but Chambers should be lauded for her honesty in the aftermath of the Midlands-Northwest European Parliament elections in which a three-candidate strategy of Barry Cowen, Niall Blaney and Lisa Chambers saw only one of the governing party’s candidates elected in the five-seater constituency.

They’ll never admit that (strategy was wrong) in Fianna Fáil HQ but Chambers accepted the success of the party in getting their first candidate into Brussels for over 10 years.

She made no bones about her dissatisfaction towards Niall Blaney and Barry Cowen hoovering up delegates' votes ahead of the Fianna Fáil convention, but she should be asking questions of higher-ups over Ursula Von der Leyen’s demands of one male and one female commissioner nominee from each country. Surely, a nomination if in name only would have satisfied the Commission President and also boosted her profile.

Unfortunately, locally is where the troubles keep appearing for the former chairperson of the Fianna Fáil Cumann in Castlebar. She noted that Blackie Gavin is a long-term friend and she refused to be drawn on whether Gavin is still a member of the party.

“That’s a question for Blackie himself,” the former TD stated.

The lack of furore over Gavin’s non-compliance on a local coalition between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has been so successfully swept under the rug by the party in Castlebar that it has left many members red-faced over the previous week.

The Fianna Fáil councillor, who comfortably sits alongside Independents in the council chamber, has pulled off a political masterstroke at the national level.

News came through of a local Mayo county councillor who was elected to the national executive committee of the IALG, with the support of Fianna Fáil councillors across the country, the same councillors from Fianna Fáil who had no clue Gavin’s future with the party was under question or that he shirked from party protocol to sit with the opposition in the corridors of power in Castlebar.

Essentially within Fianna Fáil the left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing; indeed it’s been this way for some time.

A hugely embarrassing moment for sitting Fianna Fáil councillors in Mayo and one would wonder how this Gavin/Fianna Fáil fiasco has been allowed to drag on for so long. Will the party even remove him when he challenges Lisa Chambers for a seat in Dáil Eireann?

Many have quizzed and questioned Councillor Gavin’s position over the summer. Views vary but a common theme of historical significance is emerging.

On the week when all of Irish politics paused to compliment Fine Gael TD Michael Ring for a successful and storied career representing the people of Mayo, it’s an important reminder that once upon a time in council halls he was sometimes underestimated, but he was strong in conviction.

After 30 years in Dáil Éireann, a dual carriageway to his native town and sporting facilities the length and breadth of this county advanced from third-world conditions to state of the art in many places, there’s a lasting legacy in place.

Gavin is as astute politically as they come. His role on the IALG is significant.

He has spent the last decade lambasting Fine Gael and his county town compatriot Enda Kenny for removing town councils.

A major role of the IALG is to liaise with the national government to re-introduce more localised democracy. Gavin sitting on the executive of the IALG will aid in his ambitions.

Perhaps before a general election is called Blackie Gavin may call up his old pal, Donal Geraghty, who ran a strong campaign in Castlebar under the Independent Ireland banner; put in a few words, pull a few strings as a populist party would be home for the perennial underdog Blackie Gavin.

We’ll have to wait and see but the narratives and plot lines of the first post-Ring and post-Kenny era will be one of the most fascinating nationwide to keep an eye on.