THE NEW leader of Fianna Fáil, Micheál Martin, has written to the other main party leaders challenging them to a series of televised debates during the general election campaign.
Mr Martin wrote to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore suggesting at least five debates to be broadcast on RTÉ, TV3, TG4 and other channels in the run-up to polling day.
He proposed two three-way debates, one at the outset and one at the end of the campaign; a number of head-to-head debates; and a debate in Irish on TG4.
Mr Martin was comfortably elected by the party’s 72 TDs as the eighth leader of Fianna Fáil yesterday, with 33 votes in the first count. He was elected after the third count with 50 votes including transfers, compared to 22 for his nearest challenger Éamon Ó Cuív.
In the letter, dispatched within an hour of the result, the new party leader contended the approach in Ireland to TV debates was too conservative, saying there were too few and they tended to occur very late in the campaign.
He said “international experience” had suggested a formula for fair debates, a reference to the debates involving three leaders during the British general election.
Mr Martin argued it would transform the campaign into one focused on substantial debate and not on the culture of the “empty sound bite”.
Mr Gilmore gave an immediate welcome to the proposal, saying he had been urging it for over a year. “I agree in principle with the broad outline you propose for debates during the election campaign,” he responded in a letter.
A spokesman for Mr Kenny said it was not up to one individual to decide the debate agenda. “It is understandable that Mr Martin wants to be in a debate environment rather than meeting the public,” he said. In September at his party’s think-in in Waterford Mr Kenny revised his party’s position on televised debates, agreeing to debates involving more than two leaders for the first time.
Mr Martin moved quickly yesterday to impose his leadership and set the tone for the Fianna Fáil election campaign. He convened a meeting of party TDs and Senators immediately setting out the urgency of the crisis facing the party.
At a press conference he accepted that Fianna Fáil faced immense difficulties. “We face the most challenging election Fianna Fáil has faced since its foundation,” he said.
He also said he was prepared to dedicate “10 years of my life” to restore the party’s fortunes. The dominant theme of his statement at the conference was the need for “real and serious debate”.
“One of the ways in which politics has failed is that our elections have been dominated by sound bites, personality and political tactics. Our country needs an election which is as serious as the issues we must tackle,” he said.
He said he would quickly choose a new deputy leader and front bench, as well as a director of elections. Party sources said the appointments could be made today and that a number of younger TDs would be promoted, some to portfolios which already had a party TD as Minister.
Mr Martin would not be drawn on how many seats the party could win under his leadership but said Fianna Fáil would wage an intense and energetic campaign that would prevent the election becoming “a coronation” for Fine Gael and Labour. “I can assure you that my party intends campaigning with energy and with fresh ideas,” he said.
He also made a direct apology for the mistakes made by Fianna Fáil-led governments. “I am sorry for the mistakes we made as a party and for the mistakes I made,” he said.
But he also said political parties had competed with each other during the last election over which would spend the most and which would lower taxes the most. “In that sense, we were all wrong,” he said.