Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary makes dramatic political comeback to ministerial ranks

At about 3.30am on Friday, August 21st, 2020, with the rain pouring outside, Dara Calleary sat down at his kitchen table in Ballina to type up his resignation letter. He was about to step down as Minister for Agriculture, a position he had held for just 37 days.

He had fought no rearguard action after becoming a central figure in the rapidly emerging Golfgate controversy. The previous day, he had spoken with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who — although deeply annoyed — told him to sleep on it. The options narrowed as Calleary’s inbox began to fill up with emails. It wasn’t the usual invective hurled at politicians — but from people who had suffered the vicissitudes of lockdown and were deeply wounded by the spectacle of Calleary and others from the Leinster House bubble attending the Oireachtas golf society dinner.

About 7am, Calleary cancelled radio interviews, issuing a short statement confirming that he was stepping down.

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In the normal run of things, it would mark the end of a ministerial career before it had started. And yet, on Wednesday, Calleary was appointed as Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, stepping into the place vacated by Robert Troy.

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Calleary, who turned 49 in May, comes from a Mayo Fianna Fáil political family. His father Seán and grandfather Phelim served as TDs before him. Mayo is a constituency that divides relatively cleanly for big parties, with candidates pulling votes from the towns of Westport, Castlebar and Ballina, Calleary’s electoral base, where he lives with his wife Siobhán, a primary school teacher. He is a politician by inclination. “He doesn’t have any particular hobbies,” a party colleague says. “His passion as well as his job is politics.” An ally points out, wryly, that he doesn’t play golf.

Despite his seniority, Calleary was snubbed for a full Cabinet portfolio, instead being made Chief Whip

First elected in 2007, made a minister of state in the Department of Enterprise by Brian Cowen in 2009, and was assigned extra responsibilities for public service reform in 2010. This position fell under the auspices of the Department of Finance, and Calleary, then in his late 30s, deputised on occasion for Brian Lenihan in Brussels for crunch meetings as Ireland hurtled toward a bailout.

After the disastrous election of 2011, Calleary was appointed spokesman for justice and then enterprise. Alongside Michael McGrath, the new finance spokesman, and backroom adviser Kevin Barrett (now ministerial adviser to McGrath), he was part of an effort to restore credibility to Fianna Fáil’s shattered reputation on the economy, attempting to tread a line between penance and pragmatism. Promoted to deputy leader in March 2018, he led the Fianna Fáil team during the programme for government negotiations after the 2020 general election.

Despite his seniority, Calleary was snubbed for a full Cabinet portfolio, instead being made Chief Whip. Calleary bridled: he was bruised and gave an angry interview to local radio — later reiterating his disappointment on RTÉ's Six One News. It was a significant wobble as Fianna Fáil struggled to adjust to Government, one that didn’t go down well with all colleagues, even though he is almost universally liked. “He overdid it,” one party colleague said on Wednesday. “Going on the Six One News and crying about it was really unexpected.”

His contrition, rapid resignation, and a workmanlike stint in between have largely rehabilitated him within the political classes

There are few in Fianna Fáil who resent his appointment. Nonetheless, some wonder whether he — a middle-class, middle-aged, male TD from a rural constituency and a dynastic Fianna Fáil family — might play well with a wider “change” dynamic in Irish politics. That said, Fianna Fáil is not coming down with candidates fitting that description.

His contrition, rapid resignation, and a workmanlike stint in between have largely rehabilitated him within the political classes, aided by the dismissal of charges against the organisers of the Clifden event earlier this year. It is extremely rare for someone to have left office under controversy to be returned without a whiff of it, and so quickly. Whether that would withstand the scrutiny of a leadership campaign remains to be seen. Allies say he could be elevated to Cabinet as soon as December, perhaps straight into the senior position vacated by Leo Varadkar. Health is a runner if Stephen Donnelly is shuffled out of Cabinet.

Calleary is still spoken of as a potential leader of the party, notwithstanding his two years in the wilderness. Of a future leadership tilt, an ally says: “He won’t fire the gun, but he won’t sit it out either.”