Leitrim Cllr voices anger at Fianna Fáil top brass over presidential 'debacle’

A seismic moment in Irish politics and a difficult 24 hours for Fianna Fáil, the party's nominee in the Irish presidential election, Jim Gavin, withdraws from the race following a “mistake.”

The announcement came late yesterday evening after a disastrous display in the second nationally televised debate, which saw Gavin grilled on his failure to repay a former tenant €3,300 that was paid to him by mistake 16 years ago.

“It was a very stressful time for myself and my family,” Gavin said during the debate when questioned about the accusation. He added: “If it happened, I’m very sorry that it happened. I’m looking into it, and I will deal with it urgently.”

“Totally unprecedented territory for Fianna Fáil to find themselves in,” said Leitrim and Fianna Fáil councillor Paddy O’Rourke, adding: “I think Fianna Fáil headquarters need to consider what part they played in this and take some of the responsibility for the debacle that we now find ourselves in.”

READ MORE: Customers in Leitrim to remain without power until tomorrow evening following Storm Amy damage

The selection of Jim Gavin as the Fianna Fáil candidate was the subject of much internal party debate, as MEP Billy Kelleher narrowly lost out on the candidacy during an internal vote against Gavin, who enjoyed the unwavering backing of Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his ministers.

“Headquarters and the leadership decided that they were going to exclude the ordinary members from any participation in the selection process, and that they would deal with it in this totalitarian fashion that they have done — which has left us where we are.”

“I feel these people, who purport to lead from the top, owe us an explanation as to how or why they could get this so wrong.”

The Gavin campaign was the subject of controversy and embarrassment even before the rental payments issue — including featuring uniformed members of the Defence Forces in a promotional video, flying drones in a restricted area without a permit during a park run for veterans, and wearing white trousers in a campaign video on a farm.

“I feel sorry for Jim Gavin as a person,” said O’Rourke, who believes he would have struggled greatly to get elected had he continued in the race.

READ MORE: What's in and what's out of Budget 2026? Everything we know ahead of Tuesday

“I think he would have struggled greatly, but to be fair to the man, he is as much a victim in this as anything else, because he was led to believe that somehow this was going to be a fait accompli — that the profile he enjoyed around Dublin would transfer elsewhere. But that was not going to happen, because it was quite clear that the poor man — and he may have skills and talents that the rest of us don’t have — but one that he doesn’t is as a communicator.”

The race will now be contested solely by Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys, though Jim Gavin’s name will still appear on the ballot paper.

A Sunday Independent and Ireland Thinks opinion poll from the weekend puts Connolly in top spot with 32% of the vote and Humphreys in second with 23%, while Jim Gavin was in third on 15%.

The poll also indicated that if Gavin were eliminated from the race and second-preference votes were distributed, it would put Catherine Connolly on 53% and Heather Humphreys on 47%.