Zappone controversy and its handling has sent tremors through Fine Gael

Political Reporter One Fine Gael figure, who was sent out to bat in the media for Simon Coveney in recent weeks, considered offering to play a game of bingo against the Sinn Féin representative sent out on the same show.

In it a list of key phrases would be crossed off as they were uttered: “cronyism”; “jobs for the boys”; “ready-up”; “insiders”; “made-up job”. When the card was completed the plan was to hold it up, and declare “BINGO”. Not surprisingly it did not go ahead.

On one level it is easy and comforting for Fine Gael to dismiss Opposition charges, but that belies a deeper unease within over the Zappone controversy, its handling, and the charges they face over it.

In fact, there is a deep-seated belief in the party that while badly mishandled, there is no mortal sin in the appointment itself. But there is a resentment in having to face these charges at all.

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“We consider ourselves to be pretty honourable people; we’re uncomfortable and unused to being called cronies,” one party source insisted last week. And now it faces a no-confidence motion in Coveney.

With Fine Gael’s think-in next week now certain to be overshadowed by a no-confidence motion in its deputy leader, insiders fear what the controversy says about the party after 10 years in power, and where it’s going.

Since its eruption it has metastasized, pulling in Varadkar, Coveney, Paschal Donohoe, sparking off a nasty internal spat over alleged leaks, and a well-publicised trap set by a junior Minister for a senior colleague which set tongues wagging.

“It’s an awful mess which has shaken the faith of people and made people think about beyond the horizon,” observes a party insider. People are now questioning, they say, whether “[the leadership is] in it for the long game”.

Music festival

And it is not the first such controversy, with some placing it as the latest in a series of strange, avoidable, politically dangerous or nasty crises stretching back to the RIC commemoration fiasco before the last general election.

Even Leo Varadkar’s attendance at a London music festival last weekend gets mentioned, though, ironically, the unflattering picture of him that was shared online captured him in a moment when he was speaking with Coveney.

For some, the gaffes show that the leadership in particular cannot stop tripping up over itself. “The Leo photo has agitated the public more than anything,” one TD told The Irish Times this week. “The photo is a symptom.”

Publicly, Fine Gael has been bullish to the point of being mildly histrionic, illustrated by a screaming press release declaring that Coveney has “more integrity than the entire Sinn Féin parliamentary party combined”. Privately, however, there are deeper concerns.

“Some of my colleagues in Fine Gael are just shocked at the way it has dragged on,” says one TD. “In Enda’s time [Fine Gael] wouldn’t be caught in these types of controversies and we’ve slipped into an unwelcome culture and it’s happening over again,” says another. “There’s a certain level of standards you expect from seasoned ministers… it’s uncomfortable when we see the party in this situation trying to defend itself”. “A total mess,” says a third.

Coveney is the most damaged of all. He failed to recognise the dangers surrounding Katherine Zappone's appointment, then he gave a cranky RTÉ interview, along with unsure explanations and a choppy appearance at the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee.

While many support both Zappone’s credentials as a candidate and Coveney’s right to appoint her, there was a failure to even attempt to win the political street battle that erupted after it leaked from Cabinet.

"Simon Coveney's credibility is damaged, and permanently so, particularly within our party, as none of my colleagues can understand why he took such an unnecessary risk in appointing Katherine Zappone to that role," said a backbencher.

“He didn’t take this seriously enough,” observes a party source. “He was offhand, he was dismissive… the problem was that while I might think it’s b**ls**t political opportunism, the body politic or at least the media and Opposition doesn’t agree with me, they do take it seriously.”

Wider concerns

The controversy has also tapped into wider concerns about drift in the party’s support, which, inevitably, extend to Varadkar’s leadership. Varadkar beat Coveney partly because he was supposed to be a transcendent “brand” who could pull in voters who would never think of voting Fine Gael. That promise has not been made good.

“We had a very bad election, we came third, it was our second very bad election in a row,” says a TD. “It’s been a long time since people were in count centres whooping and hollering for Fine Gael.”

Backbenchers are, understandably, concerned about the trend. “The last election was tough, the next one will be even tougher,” says one. “We’ve been in Government for the guts of 13 years, we need to sharpen our focus in terms of what we’ve learned from the previous election.” Party sources also believe the controversy was mishandled in real time, with more information dripping out, giving fresh life to the story: the staggered release of Varadkar’s texts, and the document dump from the Department of Foreign Affairs being the biggest example.

The question of the leadership, and the next generation, is ever-present. Varadkar will not be around forever, and Coveney is no longer the default alternate. Simon Harris and Helen McEntee are seen by many as likely candidates, with Paschal Donohoe's intentions unknown.

Donohoe has not escaped the Zappone controversy. He could be a consensus candidate, but his performance as director of elections in last year’s general election did not earn plaudits. Harris, one TD said, is “doing the rubber chicken circuit even though there’s no rubber chicken”.

Despite all, most in Fine Gael believe the upcoming Sinn Féin no-confidence motion will bring the matter to a close, and while that may be substantially true, there are still many more media cycles for Sinn Féin to exploit.

The party will seek to hammer home questions over the creation of the job, the nature of the dialogue between Zappone and Coveney, Paschal Donohoe's involvement, and the contention that Fine Gael is too long in power, and detached. And, that far from being an exception, this appointment is similar to how the party does business in Government. It is also grist to the mill for internal Fianna Fáil critics of Micheál Martin, as the Taoiseach defends a minister whose actions he has consistently criticised.

Last Monday, party chairman Richard Bruton and Varadkar's chief-of-staff Brian Murphy told advisers to defend Coveney, put the bad summer behind them, and knuckle down until Christmas. Nevertheless, the legacy of this political controversy will be lasting.