Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is not any the “wiser” as to how Fianna Fáil’s failed presidential election candidate Jim Gavin could not recall a past dispute with a tenant when initially asked about the matter.
Reports about the former Dublin Gaelic football manager owing the former tenant €3,300, which had been mistakenly overpaid in rent, led to Mr Gavin’s campaign being suspended in early October.
An internal review carried out by Fianna Fáil, details of which emerged earlier this week, found that Mr Gavin was asked on several occasions if there were any past disputes from his time as a landlord.
“There was complete assertions there was no issues all along, until that moment when the tenant himself came forward,” Mr Martin said on Thursday.
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The Fianna Fáil leader said he was still “not any the wiser” after the internal review as to why Mr Gavin initially failed to recall the dispute when asked about potential issues.
The party’s ill-fated presidential campaign and Mr Martin’s decision to back Mr Gavin to run have sparked renewed unrest within Fianna Fáil backbenches over his leadership.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Mr Martin said the party was “moving on” from the debacle.
The internal review, circulated to party members this week, found that questions about potential issues related to Mr Gavin’s time as a landlord were raised before he was selected as the Fianna Fáil candidate in early September.
Queries from the Irish Independent about a possible issue with a former tenant were put to Mr Martin’s top adviser, Deirdre Gillane, several days before the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party voted to choose Mr Gavin over Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher.
However, the report found specific details were not provided at the time and that Mr Gavin had told the party he was “not aware of any such issue” when asked.
In response to more detailed queries and reporting on the matter, Mr Gavin said he did not have any recollection of a past dispute.
The former tenant, Niall Donald, deputy editor of the Sunday World, later contacted Fianna Fáil to challenge Mr Gavin’s version of the story. The review said it was at this point when “Mr Gavin appeared to recognise the name” of the former tenant.
As a result of the fallout from the story, Mr Gavin dropped out of the race, though his name remained on the ballot paper.
Speaking after the implosion of Mr Gavin’s campaign, Mr Donald said the matter related to direct debits that mistakenly continued to be paid to Mr Gavin’s bank account in the months after he ended his tenancy of a Dublin apartment in 2009.
He said he engaged a solicitor in 2010 to write a letter to Mr Gavin demanding the return of the money, but had no success recouping it.
Mr Gavin only repaid the sum this year after the controversy led him to suspend his presidential campaign.
The former candidate did not co-operate in the production of the report, though a copy was sent to his lawyers before publication.
Mr Gavin was contacted for comment by The Irish Times on the findings.
