No emails were sent and no official invites were given. Instead, at the start of the week, Fianna Fáil backbenchers learned through word of mouth that something was afoot.
There has been much grumbling in recent months among party backbenchers who feel isolated and detached from the rest of Government. Many feel they struggle to get answers from Ministers. Others feel that party headquarters are out of touch and out of sight, more interested in pestering TDs about selling tickets for the upcoming summer draw.
Having had enough of the complaints, Cork North Central TD Patrick O’Sullivan decided it was time to arrange a meeting and make a plan. Sources familiar with events say O’Sullivan had no idea how many people would turn up and when he first arranged the meeting he had no idea that party leader and Taoiseach Micheál Martin was on his way to Ukraine.
In the end, nearly 30 TDs and Senators turned up for a meeting that was billed as a conversation about backbench concerns. Most people who attended the meeting expressed surprise at how many actually showed up.
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“If it was only five or 10 of us who turned up, you would say, right, it is just me. But the fact 30 people turned up would suggest, okay, it is not just me,” one source present said.
Politicians who were at the gathering reject the characterisation of it as “secret” or as the beginnings of a heave or backbench revolt against Mr Martin.
“Some people are saying it was a secret meeting, but if it were a secret meeting why would we be having it in the parliamentary party room?” asked one TD.
Not only was it held in the parliamentary party room, quite literally in plain sight, it was held at 4pm on Wednesday just before the actual weekly PP meeting at 6:30pm.
“As we were leaving the meeting, people were starting to gather for the next one,” one source said. It was suggested at one stage that Government chief whip Jack Chambers interrupted the summit, stumbling across it by chance, to his great surprise. He apparently then left. Not so, say a number of those present, who insist he had been organising other briefings in the room by children’s charity Barnardo’s earlier on, and he knew full well that backbenchers were meeting for a chat.
It may not have been a red-hot classified secret, but two things are clear. The first is that the organisers did not want word getting out ahead of time in case it was characterised in a certain way in the media, ie backbenchers challenge leadership. The second is that the group were aware that once it was over, word would get out, and they wanted to control the narrative. Hence a tweet from Dublin North West TD Paul McAuliffe just before 8pm: “A positive meeting today of FF backbench TDs and Senators to discuss party and policy issues. The group aims to complement the party’s role in Government and to strengthen the identity of Fianna Fáil. Members have agreed to meet again.”
Many of those present found about the meeting just before it was about to happen.
“I only found out about it on Wednesday lunchtime through another backbencher. I went along kind of curious more than anything else,” said one TD who was there. “The remarkable thing is that in all the contributions, no one said: ‘it is time for Micheál to go.’ People did talk about difficulties getting answers and there were a few offside comments, but it just didn’t feature. I read reports this week that the leadership was the elephant in the room. It might have been for some people, but did not come up as an open issue.”
One recurring complaint throughout the meeting was that backbenchers feel that they are unsupported and that the party is made up of “sole traders”.
“We feel omitted. We feel like spare wheels. We feel we can’t deliver sweet feck all,” one well-known TD said.
Another says: “We all feel a bit disjointed. We feel rudderless. Our summer draw is coming up next week and we are getting calls asking how many tickets have we sold, from people who haven’t rang us since the general election.” Other issues raised in the meeting include anxieties about the party’s aspirations beyond the Programme for Government, fears that the work of Government is not being communicated to the electorate, and, under the surface, the gnawing reality that Sinn Féin are stealing the march.
On one hand, the meeting could be regarded as backbenchers trying to find their place and raison d’être away from the spotlight that shines on the senior ranks of Government — nothing to overly concern the leadership. On the other hand, the sheer numbers who turned up and were willing to let it be known they are unhappy must surely give Micheál Martin pause for thought.
Those numbers weren’t against him this week. But they have mobilised, and politics is nothing if not a numbers game.
