Bev is back

“Beverley Flynn is at a stage in her career when she has an impression to make”

Speaker’s Corner
Denise Horan

SO Beverley is back in Fianna Fáil. Much like the Taoiseach’s news, it wasn’t unexpected; the only surprise was the swiftness of the move last Thursday evening. And just as the Taoiseach moving on brings an end to the distraction from serious national issues, her moving back draws a line under all that has gone on in the past four years in Mayo Fianna Fáil. The hurt and the bitterness, the division and the bickering, the uncertainty and the lack of unity. To say it has been unseemly is to be charitable to the organisation locally.
While many party members were unhappy at the reasons for her expulsion being so quickly forgotten about, without any apparent act of contrition on her part, there are as many more who were unhappy about the prospect of her return simply because they don’t like her. Whether because of her father’s perceived arrogance, her own undeniable competence or the affability that makes her so broadly popular, there are many within the party in Mayo who were happy to see her on the outside. Where she was no threat to them.
The reality, of course, was quite different. She was always more of a threat on the outside than she could ever be within. Running as an Independent in last year’s General Election, Beverley’s presence meant that Fianna Fáil had no business running a candidate of their own in Castlebar. So they didn’t, causing an unknowable amount of votes to swing to Fine Gael in the shape of the alternative taoiseach, Enda Kenny. There is a lot of ground to be made up now in the county town ahead of the local elections next year.
Beverley was the missing ingredient in Mayo Fianna Fáil in the last four years and her return to the party will indubitably make it stronger in Mayo. The members don’t all have to like her – greater resentment from party colleagues than from opponents is a long-standing feature of Irish politics, after all – but if they truly desire to rehabilitate the party in Mayo, then they must work positively with her.
Luckily for Mayo Fianna Fáil – and for the people of Mayo – Beverley Flynn is at a stage in her career when being positive is the only option. She has an impression to make. Several, in fact.
She has a new taoiseach and party leader to win over, and given their history that will require dogged hard work. She also has to re-impress her party colleagues in Mayo and, most challengingly of all, she has to prove to the Mayo public that she can deliver as a member of Government.
As Mayo’s only Fianna Fáil TD in the last Dáil, following her expulsion, John Carty provided little threat. He was a diligent worker and well-liked in the Dáil, but he never sparkled the way she could. Now, however, she has Dara Calleary to both work and contend with. He is known to be well-regarded in Leinster House already and consistent hard graft looks to be his hallmark, a consistency that Beverley seemed to lack in the last Dáil. She came and went a little too often for many people’s liking, surfacing for the major battles and performing magnificently when she did, only to go to ground again for extended periods.
For the remainder of the lifetime of this Dáil, she will need to be an ever-present in the minds of the Mayo people. Her brilliance at every public event in the run-up to the election, coupled with a degree of sympathy due to her independence, pulled Beverley through last time out; next time round the people of Mayo will judge her on her workrate over the entire term of the Dáil.
However Fianna Fáil in Mayo manages to deal with Beverley’s return in the months ahead, and with their good fortune at having two such capable TDs in different parts of the county, the county certainly stands to gain. If Dara Calleary and Beverley Flynn can work together – and work hard – in the years ahead, Mayo could finally get more than mere crumbs from the table of government.