Could land rezoning plans result in chaos and gridlock?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Well, I'm joined in the studio now by the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Jack Chambers. Minister, you're welcome to the programme. Morning, Clare. Thank you. So listen, you had a pretty abysmal weekend in the by-elections for Fianna Fáil. You lost your deposit in Dublin Central. John Stephens got 4.2% of first preferences there.
What were the recent by-election results for Fianna Fáil?
And then in Galway, your candidate came fourth in terms of first preference votes. What went wrong?
Well, look, obviously we're disappointed with both of the electoral results there, but we're coming at a point of weakness in both of those respective constituencies. Dublin Central was our second worst constituency in the last general election. Galway West was, we polled below our average results across the general election in 2024. So I think what we had here was two new candidates. both who were just first elected in 2024 in the local elections, who were, I suppose, building a base compared to some of the more established candidates, some of whom got elected. For example, Seán Cain is someone who I want to congratulate Seán Cain and Daniel Ennis for running very successful campaigns and wish them well as they come into the Dáil this week.
But look, we'll reflect on that. But I think we've used by-elections in the past as a platform of growth to build, continue to build a party for candidates who then progress into the Dáil. For example, take John Lahart in recent years, you know, he used it in 2014 to become a TD in 2016. Shane Moynan in 2019, then is now a TD from 2024. You know, these were challenging constituencies for us in the context of our base vote on a very successful day in 2024, where we came out as the largest party in the Dáil and also the largest party in local government.
I'm sure, though, that you have read the commentary this morning with some of your own party members saying that Micheál Martin has turned Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael into the one entity in voters' minds. And that was borne out when we saw the transfer pattern. in Galway West in particular, where the bulk of the votes for your candidate went to Fine Gael. Does that concern you?
Absolutely not. I think for some people, they were voting for a more centrist proposition in the context of, you know, voting for maybe some like-minded candidates. And, you know, I think that's, you know, we have to respect voters' use of the transferable vote. But, you know, when it comes to both Galway West and Dublin Central, it's about strengthening the organisation, looking to the future. In Dublin Central, we haven't had a TD since 2007. We haven't had a councillor in the North Inner City for well over 10 years.
But that's a failure, do you know what I mean?
That should have been built on before you got to this point.
How does Minister Jack Chambers explain the party's performance?
It's a weakness of organisation and I think that requires a much greater resolve from us collectively within the party as ministers, as TDs, to strengthen that organisation, work with John Stevens and the local organisation to rebuild, identify candidates early to get seats in the North Inner City. So we offer a stronger platform come the general election. But I know we've had challenging by-election results in the past where when it comes to the national elections under Micheál Martin's leadership, we've continued to outperform many of the opinion polls and many of the expectations and the commentary in studios like this.
It's a hard one to take that Fine Gael managed to buck the trend, saying that government parties don't win by-elections. Fine Gael do. Fine Gael just did.
Well, I think if you look at their results, I mean, they had a much bigger reduction in their vote in Dublin Central, for example, that went from about 17% to 11%. So that was quite a big contraction relative to their general election result. They had an established senator, someone who was a TD on two previous occasions, a former government minister, who I think had much stronger recognition across the Galway West constituency.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:28
2
What were the recent by-election results for Fianna Fáil?
0:28–2:45
3
How does Minister Jack Chambers explain the party's performance?
2:45–9:06
4
What strategies does Fianna Fáil have for future elections?
9:06–14:43
5
How does the party plan to address its weaknesses in certain constituencies?
14:43–27:47