Micheál Martin has yet to receive the review into Fianna Fáil’s disastrous 2025 presidential election campaign as a firm view forms within the party that the keenly awaited report has to be published this week.
As of this weekend, the full report was understood not to have yet been shared with the wider parliamentary party or senior figures including the Taoiseach.
The review was prompted amid the anger and embarrassment that followed former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin’s departure from the presidential race, which left Fianna Fáil without a candidate in what in effect became a contest between eventual winner Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys.
Mr Gavin stepped aside after it emerged he owed €3,300 to a former tenant, who had rented an apartment from the GAA figure 16 years ago.
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The review into the Fianna Fáil campaign was chaired by senior counsel Ciarán O’Loughlin. Its panel included TDs Tom Brabazon and Eamon Scanlon and Senator Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.
The results of the review could pose a threat to Mr Martin’s leadership of Fianna Fáil, among some frustration from TDs who felt they were put under pressure to back Mr Gavin as he was the favoured candidate of the party leader.
The Irish Mail on Sunday reported at the weekend how Deirdre Gillane, Mr Martin’s top adviser and one of the most influential figures in the Coalition Government, had been “aware” of Mr Gavin’s dispute with a tenant in advance of him being formally chosen as the party’s presidential candidate.
It is understood Ms Gillane received a phone call from a journalist on September 5th, four days before Mr Gavin was formally selected, when she was asked if she were aware of a dispute Mr Gavin had with a tenant and if Fianna Fáil had done due diligence on its prospective candidate.
Fianna Fáil described the call as “speculative and non-specific in nature”. It is understood that specific details including the name of the tenant and the nature of the dispute were not shared with the party at this point.
On September 8th, the Fianna Fáil press office received a query from the same journalist which inquired about Mr Gavin’s property interests and a “particular issue arising with a tenant when he was a landlord”.
Mr Gavin was formally chosen as a candidate by the parliamentary party that evening. It did not become public knowledge that Mr Gavin had owed €3,300 to a former tenant until October 4th.
Fianna Fáil deputy leader Jack Chambers has previously said questions about a dispute with a tenant were put to Mr Gavin in September and that Mr Gavin had denied being aware of an issue with a former tenant.
A copy of the review has been shared with solicitors acting for Mr Gavin in advance of it being shared with the Fianna Fáil party.
Malcolm Byrne, the Fianna Fáil TD for Wicklow-Wexford, said the report on the presidential campaign “has to come out” this week.
“We need to draw a line under this,” Mr Byrne told Newstalk’s Anton Savage show on Sunday.
Mr Byrne said it “would be a serious issue” if a senior adviser to Mr Martin had been aware of a problem relating to a former tenancy of Mr Gavin.
“We were assured that due diligence was done on Jim Gavin. So there are obviously questions that will have to be asked about who knew what, where and when,” he said.
“We will see that this week, and I think until I get a chance to read the report I’m not going to speculate on that.”
