Managing Byrne took up a lot of time, says FG report

A Fine Gael minister "required a lot of skill" to be handled during the general election campaign and the party will "struggle" to hold her seat at the next election, an internal party report has found.

It says managing Catherine Byrne, Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy, during the election took "up a lot of emotional effort and time".

The claims are made in a review of the Dublin South Central constituency prepared for the Fine Gael executive council. Reviews of all constituencies are being carried out and those covering Dublin South Central, Dublin Rathdown and Dublin South West have been seen by The Irish Times.

They also reveal a dispute between former minister for justice Alan Shatter – who lost his seat – and the party's national director of elections Brian Hayes, the Dublin MEP, about a vote management strategy in the Dublin Rathdown constituency.

‘Fearful of canvassing’

Mr Hayes was also involved in another row in Dublin South Central, his former constituency, with party candidates claiming to be his preferred choice.

In Dublin South Central, Ms Byrne was said to have been "initially fearful of canvassing and not very confident". The retention of the Fine Gael seat is credited to a big transfer from Labour which is unlikely to be repeated at the next election. Fianna Fáil's Catherine Ardagh, who narrowly lost out on a seat, is seen as big threat.

“It was a recurring theme during the canvass of the county end that voters do not see FG on the ground. FG is now in a fight with FF/Ardagh for the one certain centrist seat at the next election.” There is a serious “succession issue” with Ms Byrne, who will favour her daughter or another candidate to succeed her, the report claims.

In Dublin South West, the Fine Gael report notes serious tensions between the two of the three party candidates: Colm Brophy, who won a seat, and Anne-Marie Dermody, who did not.

6,000 leaflets

Co-operation was “minimal . . . to the extent that getting agreement on joint campaign projects was difficult” and a lot of time was spent “fire fighting disputes in relation to candidate ill discipline”.

“There were anecdotal reports of local canvass teams supporting non-FG candidates on the doors.”

It adds: “An unapproved letter from Brian Hayes urging number one for Colm Brophy was circulated in the last days of the campaign.”

Ms Dermody had also put an advert in the local paper “from which it could be implied she was the sole Fine Gael candidate backed by Brian Hayes”.

Fine Gael ran two candidates in the three-seat Dublin Rathdown constituency: Josepha Madigan was elected and Mr Shatter was not.

Local organisers asked Mr Hayes to organise a vote management strategy on foot of an opinion poll.

Mr Shatter “strongly disputed the results of the poll and felt that local feedback did not support his strategy”. The report finds that Mr Shatter was not adequately listened to.

“The vote management process took up a considerable amount of time in the last week and diverted attention of both candidates and the (local) director of elections.”

It also noted that Mr Shatter made a particular effort to target Shane Ross and draw him out on a number of issues. About 6,000 leaflets attacking Mr Ross were dropped although it was found to be very "difficult to assess its effectiveness".

Mr Shatter also “publicly criticised” local party figures at a post-election meeting, while Ms Madigan and Mr Shatter spent “at least” €10,000 of their own money on the campaign.