Longford Fianna Fáil Senator calls Jim Gavin withdrawal ‘very disappointing’

Longford Fianna Fáil Senator Joe Flaherty has said he is 'very disappointed' by the development that saw the party's presidential candidate Jim Gavin withdraw from the race for the Áras.

The former Dublin GAA manager announced he was stepping back on Sunday night following a newspaper report he owed €3,300 to a former tenant whose bank in 'error' made payments to Mr Gavin after he left the property.

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"I am very disappointed the way it transpired but I also have great empathy for Jim Gavin.

"He's new to politics but I certainly had a sense he was evolving as a candidate.

"He had a short number of weeks to get there as opposed to Catherine Connolly and Heather Humphreys who are seasoned campaigners."

Senator Flaherty said Mr Gavin had not come from a political background and he was facing into what is agreed by all to be the most difficult election with the greatest scrutiny.

"He has a wife and two teenage children, it is obviously going to be a traumatic time for them, it was a very difficult decision for him to make and he has a number of difficult weeks ahead where his name is still bandied about, there is going to be a ballot paper published and his name is still going to be published on that so that is very difficult for him."

Senator Flaherty described Mr Gavin as a 'solid man' and he is confident he will 'dust himself down' and return to the Irish Aviation Authority where he has provided good service.

"It's disappointing but I don't think it's going to define his life."

Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher, who lost out on the party nomination to Mr Gavin, said the political novice's candidacy was a ‘serious miscalculation’.

However, Mr Flaherty, who himself voted for Mr Gavin, said 'hindsight' is a great thing.

“I would have looked at both candidates.

"If it was Billy and A.N Other possibly it's Billy I would have voted for.

"But in Jim Gavin's case we felt he was probably in the best place to deliver, particularly with a third of votes in Dublin and a large percentage in the peripheral counties of Meath, Kildare and Louth picking up people of Dublin origin."

Senator Flaherty said he will attend a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday where they will discuss what went wrong.

"Unlike many political parties Fianna Fáil is very open.

"I don't expect it will be a short meeting, I don't expect it will be without rancour but at the same time as we have always done we thrash all these issues out and we will look to move forward."

Senator Flaherty, a former editor of the Longford Leader, said the media is always going to scrutinise everything and he believes the reporting was fair.

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"The role is the first citizen and it's a very intense campaign in that it's a small number of candidates.

"If you were to look at it you could say this is a vindication for a free and open press.

"You will hear many people say the press are bought and paid for by the established political parties when actually you can see something like this transpire.”