FIANNA FÁIL’S deputy leader Éamon Ó Cuív has said the party should contest the presidential election, but not necessarily with an internal candidate.
Mr Ó Cuív said he fully supported party leader Micheál Martin. Mr Ó Cuív had not been kept informed about Mr Martin’s recent approach to broadcaster Gay Byrne, who declined to run for president.
“I’ve been consistent from day one that Fianna Fáil should run a candidate,” Mr Ó Cuív said. “It doesn’t have to be a member of the parliamentary party.”
Asked about Mr Byrne’s rejection of Mr Martin’s offer that party Oireachtas members could facilitate the former Late, Late Show host’s nomination as an Independent, Mr Ó Cuív said: “As far as I’m concerned that’s yesterday’s news. I’ve no comment to make about the Gay thing.”
Some members of the parliamentary party criticised Mr Martin’s leadership in the aftermath of the rejected approach to Mr Byrne, but Mr Ó Cuív insisted Mr Martin enjoyed his continued support. “I’m deputy leader. I fully support the leader.”
Mr Ó Cuív was speaking to The Irish Times last night from the US, where he is visiting his son who is working there.
Asked if he was interested in seeking the party’s nomination, Mr Ó Cuív said: “The only thing I’ve said all along is: decide the process first.” Mr Ó Cuív is a member of the subcommittee charged with deciding the party’s approach to the election on October 27th.
The committee will meet before the end of the month and probably next week.
“There’ll be a committee meeting and the committee will make a recommendation to the parliamentary party and let the parliamentary party make a decision, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Mr Ó Cuív said.
“I hope we’ll have a very positive discussion on the committee. I hope we come to a consensus view and if we don’t, like any committee, we’ll have a majority view.”
The other members of the committee are Mr Martin; party whip Seán Ó Fearghaíl; Dara Calleary; Timmy Dooley and Senator Darragh O’Brien. Mr Ó Fearghaíl said the committee would have to evaluate whether any Fianna Fáil candidate could attract the level of support necessary to run a credible campaign.
MEP for Ireland South Brian Crowley formally declared his interest in contesting the October election for the party when he wrote to colleagues last month.
Views within the party about Mr Crowley’s current intentions are mixed, with some believing he remains as enthusiastic as ever and others arguing that he has been surprisingly low-key of late. Mr Crowley could not be contacted yesterday.
While many within the party favour running an internal candidate, a cohort believes Fianna Fáil should not get involved in the election at all and should focus on the 2014 local and European elections.
Meanwhile, a party source warned that Fianna Fáil would appear irrelevant if it did not contest the presidential election and Sinn Féin ended up supporting a candidate’s nomination. The smaller Opposition party has not yet decided its strategy, although it has also established a committee to examine its options.
“If Fianna Fáil end up not running a candidate and Sinn Féin end up running one, it shows that Fianna Fáil has become irrelevant,” the source said. “They are not even willing to contest the next election, 2014 is too far away.”
