- After Jim Gavin’s departure from the running on Sunday night, the presidency is down to a two-horse race between Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys
- Micheál Martin says Fianna Fáil did not know about Gavin’s specific tenancy issue until last Saturday
- Many Fianna Fáil representatives openly criticised Micheál Martin for showing a lack of judgment in his strong backing of Mr Gavin
- Cork East TD James O’Connor criticises leadership for ‘unceremonious dumping’ on Jim Gavin
- Éamon Ó Cuív said it is “highly unlikely” that Martin will lead the party into the next general election
- Deadline to register for voting is today
Key Reads
- Fintan O’Toole: What on earth was Micheál Martin thinking? Jim Gavin clearly wasn’t ready
- ‘This thing was rushed’: What Fianna Fáil TDs are saying about Jim Gavin and Micheál Martin
- Analysis: What next for Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil and the election?
- Miriam Lord: It was Fianna Fáil’s DUBU Day: Disastrous, Unbelievable, Bizarre, Unprecedented
- Join The Irish Times WhatsApp channel and never miss an update
That’s it for tonight folks, please check back soon for continuing live coverage of presidential election 2025.
Independent candidate Catherine Connolly has said there should be a referendum on Irish neutrality.
Ms Connolly said the Government has had time to come up with an alternative to the triple lock and has not done so.
She told joe.ie that Ireland has been fixated on the Russian veto at the Security Council when it is the United States that vetoed the continued Unifil mission in Lebanon. It is due to end in December 2027.
She quoted the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy as saying that Lebanon will be another Palestine without the presence of a UN peacekeeping force.
Jim Gavin posters have been coming down around the country ...
A leading Fianna Fáil backbench TD has accused Micheál Martin and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers of “the most unceremonious dumping on a party candidate in modern Irish political history”.
On the eve of what is expected to be a fractious parliamentary party meeting to discuss the dramatic withdrawal of Jim Gavin from the presidential election race, Cork East TD James O’Connor issued a long statement claiming Mr Martin and Mr Chambers made a “serious miscalculation” in not taking the concerns of TDs, MEPs and senators on board.
The full report from Harry McGee can be found here.
‘Highly unlikely Martin will lead party into next general election’, says Éamon Ó Cuív
Former Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív has said it was “highly unlikely” that Micheál Martin will lead the party into the next general election.
Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Ó Cúiv said the Taoiseach had gone past the “natural sell-by date” of Fianna Fáil party leaders.
“Just on a statistical basis, except for the founding leader of Fianna Fáil, no Fianna Fáil leader has lasted as long as Micheál Martin,” he said.
“There seems to be a natural sell-by date for leaders of Fianna Fáil.”
In relation to Gavin’s abandoned presidential candidacy, Ó Cuív said the debacle had “significantly damaged” the party.
“It’s more about the process than the actuality of what happened,” he said.
“I don’t think it was foreseeable that this issue would have arisen, but long before that I think it’s fair to say that Jim Gavin’s candidacy wasn’t going well.
“It goes back to a fatal flaw; this thing was rushed in the end.”
Today is the last day to register to vote in the presidential election on Friday, October 24th.
If you are not registered, you cannot vote. You can check if you are registered and make sure your details are up to date at checktheregister.ie.
Party did not know about specific tenancy issue until Saturday, says Martin
Claims that Fianna Fáil knew about Jim Gavin’s specific issue with a tenant before selecting him as the party’s presidential candidate were “not a fair representation of the situation at all”, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.
“An issue was raised, but in a very generic and general way,” he told RTÉ reporters on the way into Government Buildings on Tuesday morning.
“We were not aware of any such issue, and that is the truth of it, and when the issue was raised repeatedly we were told it was no issue.”
The Fianna Fáil leader said it was an “inaccurate construct to put on it” to say the party was aware of the issue before the tenant called the party on Saturday.
Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne has also expressed deep concern following Gavin’s withdrawal from the presidential race, calling it a “shock” and “disappointment” for the party.
Speaking on Morning Mix, the Wicklow-Wexford TD highlighted questions surrounding Gavin’s failure to disclose the tenancy issue during the candidate vetting process.
He said senior party figures, including party leader Micheál Martin and deputy leader Jack Chambers, were accountable for the flawed vetting process, given their roles in presenting Gavin to the parliamentary party, and he called for a thorough investigation.
Byrne stressed the issue needed to be addressed swiftly, not just to restore party credibility, but to ensure transparency moving forward.
Presidential candidate Catherine Connolly is spending most of her day in Leinster House for the budget.
“The idea that the Government could go into this budget and offer no direct cost-of-living supports to people who are struggling to keep their heads above water is extraordinary. It tells us how far removed this Government is from the lives of ordinary people,” she said.
‘The most unceremonious dumping on a party candidate in modern Irish political history’ – FF TD
Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor has said Jim Gavin “should never have found himself on the ballot paper”.
In a statement this morning, the Cork East TD said Gavin was there due to “extensive pressure” put on Fianna Fáil TDs and senators by Micheál Martin and Jack Chambers.
“They repeatedly phoned each member of the parliamentary party in the days before the selection convention on the 9th of September,” he said.
“I regret the treatment bestowed on Mr Gavin and his family in the past two days. Elevating him one day and then throwing him under a bus the next has to be the most unceremonious dumping on a party candidate in modern Irish political history.”
O’Connor also said Fianna Fáil must now quickly and resolutely address its mistakes and political misjudgements of the past six weeks.
He said the Fianna Fáil leadership made a “serious miscalculation” in not taking the concerns of the “huge mass” of the party seriously.
‘There is a lot of pressure on Micheál Martin’
Kevin Cunningham, founder of Ireland Thinks opinion polls, has said there was “a lot of pressure” on Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin following Jim Gavin’s abandoned presidential campaign.
He said the “disquiet” surrounding his leadership has been ongoing for “many years”, but pointed to the fact he still remains the most popular political leader in the country, despite his approval rating declining over recent months.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland, Dr Cunningham also said he believed that Gavin’s campaign wasn’t “necessarily over” following his disappointing polling over the weekend.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll, published on Sunday, suggested a sizeable lead for Catherine Connolly, putting her on 32 per cent, Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys on 23 per cent and Gavin on 15 per cent.
Dr Cunningham said presidential election campaigns were “incredibly volatile” and Gavin would have been better suited in a mayoral campaign. He said the presidential campaign was not “a particularly good fit” for the former Dublin GAA manager.
Very painful and difficult decision for Jim Gavin, says Micheál Martin
Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has defended his handling of the Jim Gavin controversy, saying he wanted to acknowledge that “members of the party are hurting”.
Speaking on RTÉ last night, Martin said Fianna Fáil had conducted a “very comprehensive due diligence” before Gavin was selected as its candidate.
“We knew he was a landlord,” he said, adding that the party had asked Gavin, “Is there anything in your life that we need to know? Is there anything in your life?”
Martin said Mr Gavin was asked by Fianna Fáil if he had any difficulties with tenants at his property, but Mr Gavin said he did not.
“Repeatedly Jim was asked, ‘Did you ever have any issue with a tenant’ and he said ‘Absolutely not’,” he said.
He said Gavin was asked “’did you have any issues with a tenant?’ He said no.”
Asked if he had made the decision for Gavin to drop out or if he had made it himself, the Taoiseach replied: “Jim made the decision himself but we did discuss it with him.”
It was, he said, a “very painful and difficult decision for him”.
Martin also said he intended to lead Fianna Fáil into the next election.
“I got a very strong mandate in the last general election and my focus is on governing the country,” he said.
Miriam Lord has a great piece today in which she describes Monday as Fianna Fáil’s DUBU Day; Disastrous, Unbelievable, Bizarre, Unprecedented.
Lord writes: ‘The fateful meeting of the Fianna Foist parliamentary party, where TDs and senators bowed to their leader’s will and nominated an untried and untested candidate, has now entered the territory of the thousands who swore they were in the GPO in 1916.
‘Now loads of them want to say they were one of the braves who stood up to Micheál Martin’s Grand Imposition.’
The full piece can be read here.
Jim Gavin’s name will appear on the ballot paper
As Gavin has been validly nominated as a candidate he will appear on the ballot paper, at least some of which have already been printed and sent to postal voters.
If you want to vote for Jim Gavin, for whatever reason, you will be able to when you cast your vote, Pat Leahy explains.
A vote for Gavin is a valid vote and will be counted and so will his transfers.
The full explainer can be read here.
The advantage seems to have shifted very much in the direction of Catherine Connolly, writes Harry McGee in this morning’s political digest.
He says having covered budget’s for the past 20 years, he can’t remember one being overshadowed to such an extent by another domestic political story.
The full digest can be read here.
MEP Barry Cowen calls for ‘full and frank review’
Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen is calling for a “full and frank review” of the process through which the party decided on a candidate for the presidential election.
Cowen told RTÉ Radio’s Morning Ireland that he had not been satisfied with the lack of transparency and structure in the process in the months leading up to the decision, Vivienne Clarke reports.
“There was little transparency or structure, the leadership seemed to believe from the outset that no current or former Fianna Fáil TD or minister, for example, could come forward and could win, so they looked outside, but there has to be a proper open and robust process.
“I would hope that a recommendation would also emanate from such a meeting tomorrow night to make recommendations to an ardfheis for a more inclusive process that allows councillors and party members the opportunity to engage in a procedure and a process and own the resulting nomination, which wasn’t the case this time.”
Cowen said he understood Martin’s wish to “reach beyond the party base”, but in doing so he “may have lost sight of the talent and the experience already within Fianna Fáil and the benefits that would accrue as part of nominating from within.
“It was always going to be harder, for example, to motivate the grassroots for someone that the party was less familiar with. So when a contest did finally emerge between Billy Kelleher and Jim Gavin, what really disappointed me personally was the rush to engage in a public tally of counter-parliamentary voting intentions in the media before the actual meeting took place,” he said.
Cowen said he had voted for Billy Kelleher, having worked closely with the Cork MEP for years.
“I knew that his ability to engage with the public, to handle scrutiny, clearly articulate his ideas and those of the party. I didn’t know Jim Gavin personally, he came highly recommended, as has been alluded to, fine credentials in relation to his time in the GAA with the defence forces, his charity work. But the scrutiny involved in entering a case like this is unforgiving.”
Cowen said the issue of timelines in the Gavin case, “who knew what and when” was concerning and something that he expected to be scrutinised and interrogated by a committee that would be set up as a result of the parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday night.
Recommendations would then be sent to the parliamentary party on what actions, if necessary, should be taken, he said.
Asked who he would not vote for in the presidential election, Mr Cowen said: “I respect Catherine Connolly’s authenticity, for example, her willingness to articulate a vision, something that might be lacking in recent times in politics to tell the truth.
“But I fundamentally disagree with her on issues that are vital to Ireland’s place in the world and a role in Europe and international trade and diplomacy.
“The president represents Ireland internationally and comments such as hers that she’s made in recent times can undermine their partners.”
Cowen said he would be voting for Heather Humphreys, but would not be recommending or expect other members of Fianna Fáil to do so.
Good morning. The fallout from Jim Gavin’s abandoned presidential campaign continues, though will be largely overshadowed by today’s budget.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will face one of the sternest tests of his long leadership at a party meeting on Wednesday night.
Many Fianna Fáil representatives openly criticised Martin for showing a lack of judgment in his strong backing of Gavin as the party’s preferred candidate for the Áras.
Our lead story from the political team can be read here and follow irishtimes.com for updates throughout the day.
