Fianna Fáil duo to contest as part of three candidate strategy

Seamus Enright

Fianna Fáil made hay as the sun shone by finalising their Cavan team ahead of the next General Election when confirming sitting TDs Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth for the ticket at the Hotel Kilmore last Thursday.

Despite the sweltering heat, almost 350 dedicated party supporters turned up, many downing tools on farms back home, as both TDs were ratified, unopposed, in what was a somewhat unusual, non-voting convention. They join Senator Robbie Gallagher in what will play out as a three-candidate strategy in the reunited Cavan-Monaghan five-seat constituency.
Indeed throughout the evening’s speeches, much was made of the constituency commission’s maligned decision to carve up Cavan previously, with high praise heaped on the ‘Reunite Cavan’ campaign spearheaded by Deputy Smith and The Anglo-Celt newspaper.
In opening the convention, Chair of the Fianna Fáil Comhairle Dáil Cheantair Brendan O’Reilly described the commission’s decision at the time “intolerable”. He also warned supporters present that, such a scenario, even though it sought to now disenfranchise a portion of north County Meath, “must never be allowed happen again!”.
That message hit home no harder than with Roscommon’s Eugene Murphy, there to chair the Cavan convention. The Roscommon–Galway representative was scorned by the loss of 7,000 plus votes in the same series of constituency realignments as Cavan was reunited. He himself claimed the chiselling of boundaries had posed a direct and perhaps deliberate “threat” to the security of seats held by Fianna Fáil countrywide.
Last week’s convention is the first time Deputy Smyth received the official backing of local grass-root supporters, having been defeated three-to-one at her last party selection attempt in December 2015. The then Bailieborough county councillor was later added by party head office, on appeal. On her way to being elected in 2016, she collected an impressive one-tenth of the overall first preference vote available.
Since then, she has moved to build up a formidable profile at Leinster House, not least though her portfolio as spokesperson on Arts and Culture, but also on issues of women’s rights and equality, mental health issues, child welfare and education.
Colleague Deputy Smith, meanwhile, has found himself shadowing one of the most complex and overloaded portfolios arising from the unforeseen complexities of Britain’s decision to exit the EU. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence Committee was first elected to Dáil Eireann in 1992 and has since been re-elected in every General Election since.
When Fianna Fáil were in government he held several front bench positions, as former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and Justice and Law Reform. He also served as Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, for Children, and at the Department of Health and Children.
In accepting the nomination, Deputy Smyth stood before the party faithful, telling them Fianna Fail are “creative thinkers” capable of thinking “outside the box”.
“This is the Fianna Fáil DNA and we can only do it in government, not from the opposition benches.”
She pointed out, as previously done, how the Government’s National Development Plan 2020-40 has “failed the people” of Cavan and Monaghan and rounded too on how matters such as Brexit, the fodder crisis, as well as healthcare concerns including cervical check scandal, have been handled.
In his speech, Deputy Smith also took umbrage with a variety of measures or stances taken by Leo Varadkar, in particular, since taking over as Taoiseach.
There were sniggers in the audience when he described the Taoiseach as a “glorified Fine Gael master of ceremonies”, more interested in “talking about socks” with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and “dominating the media agenda” than governing the country.
There were shocked giggles too when Deputy Smith suggested the Fine Gael “spin machine” had been “taking notes” on how US President Donald Trump uses “fake news to avoid responding to real and valid criticisms”.
There were whoops of ‘hear hear’ as Deputy Smith landed heavy blows concerning the legacy of Sean Lemass - “Leo, you are no Sean Lemass” - and that of the Fianna Fáil party when saying: “We have been the leaders of change. That is what we must be again!”
Speaking to The Anglo-Celt afterwards, neither delegate sought to underestimate the scale of the task before them.
“I’m ready for this. What’s incredible is from day one I stepped into Leinster House I’ve been hearing about this election,” said Deputy Smyth. “We’ve come the distance in those two and a half years. I do believe, and we as a party are ambitious enough to believe, with the move from a four to a five seater, that we have every opportunity to get our three nominees, myself included, elected. That’s what we need to do if we’re to be serious about getting back into government,” she added.
Her running partner Deputy Smith agreed. He had spoken with people earlier in the day, many engaged in working the land, to tell them that it was a non-voting convention and their presence was not necessary. “Still they turned out and in a tremendous number. It goes to show the healthy position Fianna Fáil are in. We mightn’t have needed them tonight but we will need them come election time to canvas every road and lane in the county.”