COMMENT: Fianna Fáil can't hide behind its Castlebar ills any longer

Procrastination won't solve Fianna Fáil problems in the heart of Mayo's political sphere, the county town of Castlebar.

It is now five months since the party suffered the indignity of failing to win in two consecutive general elections, Lisa Chambers being the unsuccessful candidate on both occasions.

It is now nine months since one of its local election candidates in the Castlebar Municipal District, Councillor Blackie Gavin, walked out of the party grouping on Mayo County Council to join an independent technical group on the authority.

In respect of both cases, absolutely nothing of significance has happened in terms of forensically assessing the long-term damage to the organisation from both setbacks and what needs to be implemented in terms of a recovery plan.

This is not how one of the county's longest established and most experienced political entities should be operating. It can only be described as a 'head in the sand' approach that is destined to end in further pain and embarrassment.

After all of this time, one voice has finally stood and demanded action by the party's leadership to finally address the issues that undermine the organisation's future in the county town, which has long been a traditional FF stronghold going back to the days of former senior government ministers Micheál O'Morain and Padraig Flynn.

Ballinrobe-based Councillor Damian Ryan has made a plea to the powers-that-be, so to speak, to conduct a root and branch review of the party in Castlebar, establish the problems, move to rectify them and draft a future plan sooner rather than later.

His point that prospective candidates for the next local elections in 2029 should start coming forward now is a valid one because new candidates will invariably bring fresh blood and energy with them.

It's also a strong possibility one of those prospective candidates will be a strong contender to run in the next general election as the Castlebar-based contender.

As it stands, there is only one official Fianna Fáil elected representative in the entire Castlebar area.

That's Councillor Al McDonnell, who is widely considered to be serving his last term.

So, potentially, the party is facing the prospect of being left without elected representation in the county town in the coming years.

That's how stark the situation is.

A failure to rescue what can only be described as a very sick patient would be nothing short of unforgivable.