Has Marc MacSharry burned his bridges to Fianna Fáil or will he be the prodigal son?

Ballymote in Co Sligo was once renowned for linen production. Two centuries on, a more recent claim to fame for this attractive market town of 1,200 people was that it was home to two of four TDs in the Sligo-Leitrim constituency.

Fine Gael’s John Perry and Fianna Fáil’s Eamon Scanlon were elected to the Dáil twice together, in 2007 and 2016. There’s physical evidence of their proximity. Scanlon’s auctioneering premises is just beside the large Protestant church at the nape of the town. Perry’s shop, now closed but still bearing his name, is just 100 metres down the hill.

“Not only do we have no TD any longer,” says Joe McNulty, who owns a furniture shop on the main street, “we don’t even have a councillor from the town any more.”

This isn’t about Ballymote’s demise but rather the shifting sands of politics. It was always seen as a Fine Gael base, and Scanlon’s success reflected how strong Fianna Fáil were at the time in the constituency, outside its stronghold of Sligo town.

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Like all Connacht counties, this constituency has been a bit of a hybrid over the years. Sligo always had Leitrim attached, but also bits of Cavan, Donegal and Roscommon. Indeed, until this week the constituency included south Donegal and north Roscommon. On Wednesday, the Electoral Commission – tasked with recasting the country’s electoral map to match the growing population – returned the electoral districts around Boyle, comprising a population of 8,500, to Roscommon-Galway.

The TD that this will most discommode is Fine Gael’s Frank Feighan, who is from Boyle. He has committed to stay in the constituency. However, the nine electoral districts around Bundoran and Ballyshannon remain, allowing the constituency to retain its status as a four-seater.

How will the seats divide? Sinn Féin is nailed on for one. The party’s sitting TD Martin Kenny won 25 per cent of the vote in the 2020 general election. If Independent Marian Harkin runs again, she should retain a seat. Even with a strengthening Sinn Féin, in the normal course of events there should be a seat each for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

[ Dáil temporarily suspended as Marc MacSharry alleges ‘discrimination’ over speaking time ]

Nothing is normal now for Fianna Fáil, however, because of Marc MacSharry’s high-octane exit from the party last November. That followed a bitter row with party leader Micheál Martin over a complaint made against MacSharry locally. His relationship with the Tánaiste seems irreparable.

Colour and drama

Even at 10am in the library hushness of the Glasshouse Hotel in Sligo, MacSharry brings volume, colour and drama. In a conversation on the constituency, on Martin, on his own exile from Fianna Fáil and his prospects for the next general election – which he believes won’t happen until 2025 – he doesn’t hold back. We spoke in mid-August before the sudden death of his brother, Bryan.

“Is there room for people like me in politics any more?” the Independent TD mused. People who call it as they see it, who don’t court popularity, to their electoral detriment at times. That’s not the main in politics any more. Now it is all very touchy-feely.

“I just don’t play the game. I don’t do the bulls**t.”

I go back 34 years with Micheál and there was a time when I totally believed in his approach and his beliefs and his integrity

—  Marc MacSharry on Micheál Martin

He warms to the theme: “When the concept of ‘woke’ emerged I thought, this is okay. This has increased awareness of social justice. But I think it’s become the relentless pursuit of every possible opportunity to manufacture outrage, offence and anger. The system has run with that, politics, media, and the establishment. The old straight talker isn’t welcome any more.”

Critics would see in MacSharry less of a straight talker, more of a blowhard and a disrupter. “For a fellow who’s smart, he can be politically stupid,” is the assessment of a colleague. “He’s got passion and articulacy but poor judgment.”

MacSharry has not softened his stance on Martin. He has a long list of grievances: the confidence and supply arrangement in government, the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael agreement that kept a Fine Gael-led minority government in power from 2016 to 2020; the current Government’s “Shared Island” all-island funding initiative driven by Martin; the 2021 “Zapponegate” controversy surrounding the later-abandoned appointment of former minister Katherine Zappone to a part-time role at the UN; the acquiescence to the Greens, one of Fianna Fáil’s current Coalition partners; the controversy around Leo Varadkar’s leaking of a confidential agreement with one medical organisation to a friend linked to a rival organisation in 2019.

“I go back 34 years with Micheál and there was a time when I totally believed in his approach and his beliefs and his integrity. In about 2013 that began to change and it became ‘Mission get me into Taoiseach’s office at any cost’. I felt it would have been possible to get him there by maintaining our core principles, but unfortunately that [was not the case].”

If Fianna Fáil wants to retain the seat here they will have to get MacSharry back on the ticket. There’s no potential successor waiting there

—  Paul Deering, Sligo Champion

What if there was a change of leadership? “The next leader will be more of the same. The template is to use the party relentlessly as a vehicle for personal advancement at any cost ... It’s tragic.”

[ ‘Loose cannon’ MacSharry’s departure opens a divide in Fianna Fáil in Sligo-Leitrim ]

Sundered

If you take his sentiments at face value, his relationship with Fianna Fáil is sundered.

His profile remains high locally. He’s taken a contrarian stand on refugees and asylum seekers and the Government’s immigration policy, which, he argues, is a cause of rising homelessness among Irish people. He is doing all his constituency duties, albeit without an office or backup.

Paul Deering, editor of the Sligo Champion, has been a close observer of politics in the constituency for more than 30 years.

“There is talk of Sinn Féin winning two seats but there would need to be a huge swing for that to happen. That said, Fianna Fáil will be under most pressure, as there are question marks over Marc MacSharry’s intentions,” he says.

“It could be bad news for himself if he runs as an Independent and it could be bad news for Fianna Fáil. If Sinn Féin got a huge bounce they could sneak in and get a second seat by default.

“If Fianna Fáil wants to retain the seat here, they will have to get MacSharry back on the ticket. There’s no potential successor waiting there.”

Gerry O’Connor is chairman of the Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil Cheantair. He is an experienced and calm operator who has also been director of elections in Sligo since 2004. He says MacSharry’s resignation was unexpected, but the party needs to deal with it. He doesn’t see any shortage of candidates coming forward if MacSharry doesn’t return.

“Splitting the vote is obviously a danger,” admits O’Connor. “We’ve come across that in local elections before and these are problems you have to address.”

[ Fianna Fáil hits back at former TD over criticism he made in resignation statement ]

But ever the pragmatist, he adds simply: “If Marc applies to become a member of Fianna Fáil again, he’d be accepted without a doubt.”

That is the rub. Deering is of the view that is going to happen. “If I was a betting person, I would say that six months out from an election there will be a move to get him back again.”