It was one of those “any other business” moments. Fianna Fáil’s first parliamentary party meeting in the new Oireachtas session was beginning to wind down when Donegal senator Niall Blaney stood to make a contribution. He reminded his Dáil and Seanad colleagues that 2023 would mark the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. There was a need, he said, for the party to put its best foot forward to commemorate it. He called on the party to act in “a spirit of inclusivity”.
Out of the blue he then said that should include welcoming Bertie Ahern back into the party fold.
It had not been on the agenda, but now it was very much. Its immediate significance was not lost on anyone present. Offaly TD Barry Cowen was first to react saying the time had come readmit the former taoiseach. . Over the next 24 hours others joined in.
Blaney’s intervention ignited a debate that was ostensibly about Ahern, but which quickly prompted wider questions. How could the party define its republican nature in the 21st century? How could it position itself vis-a-vis a united Ireland in the face of the coming storm that is Sinn Féin? How could it claim ownership of the Belfast Agreement without Ahern?
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And it also turned minds to 2023, just weeks after it will have ceded the office of taoiseach, an action that will restart thinking about succession if it does not get started before.
[ Taoiseach leaves door open for Bertie Ahern rejoining Fianna FáilOpens in new window ]
Blaney had no great plan behind his intervention at the parliamentary party meeting other than conversations he has had with Fianna Fáil Border-based TDs and Senators like Brendan Smith and Erin McGreehan in recent weeks. He said that there were different forms of republicanism within the party but the Belfast Agreement reflected what Fianna Fáil republicanism was all about.
From a strategic perspective it makes sense for Fianna Fáil to commemorate the agreement and its crucial role in it. It could help the party reclaim some of the ground lost to Sinn Féin in the “republican” space. But for Fianna Fáil to “big” up its contribution without Bertie Ahern being in the picture would be a little like Hamlet without the prince.
On Thursday morning Taoiseach Micheál Martin was at the Square in Tallaght to open up an enormous new Penney’s store. For the first time in several weeks, the doorstep interview he gave was not dominated by the budget or by inflation or by energy prices, but by the Bertie questions.
Martin certainly opened the door on a return. That said, he did not leave it wide open with his talk of “the fullness of time”. One got the impression that the fatted calf was not being prepared just yet to welcome back the prodigal son.
That said, he did say the context had changed around Ahern’s departure in acrimony from the party10 years ago in the wake of the Mahon Tribunal: “I’m conscious of the contribution he has made to peace in the country, a very significant contribution.”
Martin said he has engaged informally with Ahern, especially on the Northern Ireland protocol, often on the margins of sporting events, which suggests that they are informal indeed, without the backdrop of Government Buildings.
Yet the Fine Gael side of Government, especially Simon Coveney, has sought Ahern’s advice and views fairly regularly since Brexit, leaning on his negotiation experience, his knowledge of the minutiae, and his extensive contacts in the North and further afield.
Ahern resigned from Fianna Fáil in 2012 following the report of the Mahon Tribunal which had investigated his personal finances – mostly the purchase of a house after his separation and the “dig-outs” he had said he had received to finance the purchase.
The hearings made a minor celebrity out of one of his friends, “Paddy the Plasterer”, and though the report had not made any findings of corruption against Ahern it did criticise his account of the sources of money lodged into his bank account.
The motion to expel Ahern from Fianna Fáil was tabled by Martin, who described Mr Ahern as betraying the trust of the party. In the event, Ahern resigned ahead of the motion. He described the motion as a “grave injustice”, and said he was deeply saddened by it. It coloured the relationship between him and his successor for years.
Fianna Fáil faces new year challenges. The party will be relinquishing the position of Taoiseach and becoming – for the first time – the second party of government. Now it must decide how it can prepare for the next election and hold the seats it has or win more.
The decisions that will be taken soon will be crucial. It looks now that the debate about Fianna Fáil getting the finance portfolio is settled. But what portfolio does Micheál Martin take? Could it be the Department of Foreign Affairs. If so, why?
On one level it makes sense. He was in Iveagh House before, and enjoyed it, but he was not party leader then. Leading the party from foreign affairs is a tricky proposition given that by its nature it requires being abroad an awful lot.
On the other hand it is a high profile position and it also would allow Fianna Fáil clout when it came to policy formulation on Northern Ireland, Brexit and all-island initiatives, given that justice is likely to stay with Fine Gael.
However, it requires careful balancing. Eamon Gilmore found it difficult to juggle being in foreign affairs, being tánaiste and party leader. Perhaps Dick Spring, a decade earlier, found it a little easier. Of course, the larger question is how long will Martin remain as leader?
And then there is Ahern himself. He has not asked to rejoin but his reputation and standing have recovered strongly since the low of a decade ago. If the party is going to make the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement a cornerstone it’s going to have to extend an invitation to Ahern sooner rather than later.
