Where does Fianna Fail in Mayo go from here?

The party has lost its teeth in a county it once dominated

By Dr. Richard Martin

It was significant and unusual that the outgoing government performed so well at the ballot box during the recent general election.

Most incumbent governments across Europe have been falling from power in recent times.

FF have had their best election since the crash. In 2011 they were at rock bottom and returned 20 deputies to the Dáil.

In 2016 they won 44 seats, in 2020 they won 38 seats and now in 2024 they have returned 48 deputies to the Dáil. That is an astonishing result when one considers the state the party was in in 2011, and its very existence was under threat.

So how then given the party’s strength at national level is the party performing so poorly in this constituency, particularly when historically this would have been largely a Republican county dating back to the civil war era.

After the 1992 GE, four of the six TDs in the county were FF. That day is gone.

On the Sunday morning of the count in the TF I saw some of the local diehards walking around the TF in a daze.

The hurt was visible and palpable. I avoided making eye contact. It was easier to keep your head down and keep walking. For many in Castlebar since the election, it has been depressing to say the least. The weakness of FF locally and county wide is being exploited by other parties.

Aontú's Paul Lawless won a seat in an area that was always an FF stronghold. PJ Morley. John Carty et al. A strong FF candidate in that locality would’ve put a stop to that.

Is Keith Higgins the solution in east Mayo? Sean Flanagan and John O’Mahony were both popular and electable.

Prominent GAA candidates are electable on that side of the county. We have seen locally what Alan Dillon has brought to the table. Could Keith Higgins do something similar? I’d find it hard to believe he couldn’t. They are the same calibre of men.

I saw Councillor Paul McNamara at the count centre.

He should have been on the ticket. It’s very hard to pass a man of that calibre on the ballot paper.

For strategic purposes alone he was worth his weight in gold. He would’ve been very competitive against RCW and Kiera Keogh in Achill and Erris and pulled a solid vote in the county town. Their FPV would’ve both been substantially hit.

In my view he would’ve been elected. That’s two extremely competitive potential candidates that were watching on from the sidelines.

It’s the same logic as Paidi O’Se leaving Maurice Fitzgerald on the bench. There is no logic. The bottom line is that generally speaking, FF - Dara Calleary aside - has lost its teeth in this constituency.

Where once they were feared, they now resemble a crocodile with gummy bear teeth.

I am also of the view the failure of the organisation in Castlebar to adequately address the decision of Councillor Blackie Gavin to walk away from the party at Mayo County Council, a situation that allowed him to play a part in Senator Lisa Chambers' election campaign, did not send out the right signals of a party in control of its destiny.

Leadership is about accountability and action. Not waiting and hoping for it to go away.

Councillor Gavin is still technically a member of FF but is actively working with the independent technical grouping in the council chamber, placing him in a position where he can vote against his own party.

Yet he was still involved in the party's general election campaign, including being pictured alongside party leader Micheál Martin during his visit to Castlebar in the weekend before polling.

Blackie would have loved to have seen Lisa elected. That cannot be questioned.

But surely he cannot be in the party and out of it at the same time. And especially at election time.

Going forward, questions are being rightly asked in regarded to whether or not FF will remain in this interminable state of paralysis and limbo in Castlebar and other parts of Mayo.

The darkest hour is always before dawn, they say.

Christmas is looming. A long time ago three wise men followed the star of Bethlehem to a manger in Nazareth in search of a leader and Saviour.

This wise man knows there is a rising star in the FF firmament. The House of Flynn will rise again.