A Tipperary TD has said that there are “concerns” about Fianna Fáil’s recent election performance.
The recent Dublin South by-election saw Fianna Fáil face its worst result ever in a by-election, gaining less than 5% of the first preference vote.
Minister Barry Cowen has called for a special meeting to address concerns and Tipp TD Jackie Cahill said this is necessary.
“I don’t know about being deeply divided, but we have concerns – the by-election result was alarming.
“A whole 4.6%, there’s no point in throwing a cloak over that and say it’s not worrying. In 2011, we polled 11.5% in that constituency, so it is worrying.
“Barry Cowen has a proposal on the table for a parliamentary party tomorrow night and we will sit down and we will sit down and have a think-in, in late July, rather than leaving it until September.
“We will sit down and discuss where we are as a party in Government.”
Deputy Cahill added that an in-depth discussion about where the party is at and plans going forward is needed.
“Every aspect of where we are has to be discussed.
“I looked for (after the election in 2020), that we’d have a root and branch review, top to bottom, of why we did so badly in the 2020 election and that didn’t happen.
“I will be repeating that when we have this meeting in the next two weeks.
“We need to examine all aspects – there’s elected people, there’s unelected people – we have to see how all parts of the Fianna Fáil party are functioning – we need to have that discussion.”
