Sam Smyth: That 'Eureka' moment showed up Martin's flawed judgment

Sam Smyth

August 15 2011 04:47 AM

IT TOOK just seven days for Micheal Martin to revert the perception of him as an indecisive leader of Fianna Fail back the full 360-degrees.

And worse, when he stopped dithering and took executive action, a deep fault line was exposed where his political judgment should be.

He had a 'Eureka' moment on holiday in west Cork, when backing Gay Byrne for the presidency must have struck him as an inspired answer to a festering problem.

Gaybo was on holiday in Donegal when Micheal called with an offer, he believed, that couldn't be refused.

It must have seemed like everyone was a winner: a prize trophy for a political big game hunter, and opportunity knocking for the celebrity. But no one did the math and Mr Martin had much more to lose than Mr Byrne: the politician is in his first months as leader of his party and the semi-retired broadcaster is 77-years-old.

It was pay-back time yesterday, although many Fianna Failers insisted that Micheal Martin, enjoyed the full confidence of the party.

Mr Martin has a month to redeem himself with the parliamentary party, where a significant majority thought supporting Mr Byrne was a bad idea.

And the leader will have to explain to his deputy leader why he did not inform him -- or anyone else in the party -- that he was approaching Mr Byrne.

Deputy leader Eamon O Cuiv had expressed interest in running for the Park and would have expected the leader to at least tip him off before the approach to Mr Byrne hit the headlines.

The move also offended MEP Brian Crowley who has had his heart set on being Fianna Fail's presidential candidate for all his political life.

There is another view in the party that is just as convinced that it should not spend money on backing one of its own members in a campaign it cannot possibly win -- and could seriously embarrass it.

Some TDs would favour informally backing an independent candidate close to their views, such as Sean Gallagher, but the Gay Byrne debacle could stymie that notion.

For such an accomplished communicator, Mr Martin managed to keep everyone in his party in the dark about Gaybo.

Friends of Mr Martin made a very disingenuous excuse yesterday, saying that it was Mr Byrne who told the public about the Fianna Fail leader's approach to him.

That ignores the ire of those party members of who say they should have been informed before he was approached.

Of course, there were those within Fianna Fail who believed that sounding out Gaybo was a good idea. But they feel that Mr Martin's approach lacked political sophistication -- a worldlier leader would have used go-betweens.

Sam Smyth: That 'Eureka' moment showed up Martin's flawed judgment

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