An element of retribution was involved in Brian Crowley's challenge to the authority of Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin when he changed sides within the European Parliament this week. The two men had never been close but relations became poisonous when Mr Martin denied him an opportunity to contest the Presidential election in 2011. This latest episode reminded people that Mr Martin's leadership remains under threat despite a strong performance in the local elections. Pre-election rumblings of a "heave" if Fianna Fáil failed to win a European seat in Dublin came to nothing, but unexpectedly bad results elsewhere ensured they have not gone away.
On the face of it, Mr Martin’s critics will find it difficult to rally support. The younger members lack necessary experience while the older ones are encumbered with negative political baggage. Successes in the local elections have handed Fianna Fáil the prospect of an early return to government. Having shed 58 TDs in the last general election, ordinary members have little time for internal squabbling that could damage the party’s potential. In any event, Mr Martin’s handling of recent difficulties was regarded as competent.
Support for his spokesman on justice Niall Collins, in connection with representations made on behalf of a drug dealer, was well regarded while his avoidance of a parliamentary party vote on Mr Crowley's defection was tactically astute. His proposal that Mr Crowley, by his actions, had expelled himself closed off debate on the party's membership of the Liberal group and its support for greater European integration. Disagreement on that broad issue two years ago saw Éamon Ó Cuív removed from the front bench.
To suggest, as a party spokesman did, that Mr Crowley – by his decision – had rejected “fifty years of Fianna Fail economic and foreign policy”, is so much bunkum. Some of his colleagues in the Tory-led ECR group will be the same people he shared space with before Fianna Fáil joined the federalist-minded Liberals. His defection is, however, embarrassing to Mr Martin. Fianna Fáil remains affiliated to the Liberals, even as Mr Crowley, a party member, supports people his party chief whip regards as “a crowd of headbangers”.
Will it matter? The MEP's website declares: "my work in Europe is about you and your local area". And so it is. Political clinics generate raw material that is translated into votes on matters ranging from roads to housing and health matters. Such activity helped him to top the poll and attracted 180,000 first preference votes while Fianna Fáil candidates who had devoted themselves to European issues lost their seats. In view of Mr Crowley's approach to EU policy formation, the importance of his affiliation within the European Parliament is mainly cosmetic.
