Gavin was asked five times about tenant dispute - review

Fianna Fáil's presidential candidate Jim Gavin was asked five times about a reference to a dispute with a tenant, including twice before he was selected, according to the party's review into the campaign.

Mr Gavin did not participate in the compilation of the report and declined to be interviewed.

He was asked about the dispute on 5 September and on 8 September.

The report says that on 5 September, Chief Of Staff at Department of the Taoiseach, Deirdre Gillane received a call from journalist at the Irish Independent Fionnán Sheahan.

He said that there may be an issue with a tenant.

The matter was put to Mr Gavin by General Secretary Sean Dorgan and Mr Gavin states that he is not aware of any such issue.

Nominations for consideration as Fianna Fáil's presidential election candidate closed at 5pm that day.

Then on 8 September, Mr Sheahan sent an email to Fianna Fáil saying: "Following on from the request for an interview, would you mind letting me know when Jim Gavin will be responding to media queries."

The email continued: "I have some specific questions I wish to put to him about property interests and a particular issue arising with a tenant when he was a landlord."

Mr Dorgan put the matter to Mr Gavin again.

Then Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart sent a text message to Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers referencing a potential issue with a tenant, who was a journalist, and the return of a deposit.

This text was sent to Mr Dorgan who again put it to Mr Gavin.

To both of these queries Mr Gavin professed no recollection of any such issues, of a deposit not having been returned.

Expected cost of campaign is over €350,000

The report says the expected cost of the campaign is €350,000 to €400,000. As Mr Gavin's vote did not reach the required threshold, the party will not be able to recoup some of these costs.

The review found that Mr Gavin was first mentioned as a candidate in the week of 9 June, when former Dublin footballer Keith Barr contacted Mr Chambers, recommending Mr Gavin as a candidate for Fianna Fáil.

This was followed by a text dated 15 June from Mr Gavin himself to Mr Chambers seeking to follow up on
the initial contact.

Due diligence on the candidate was carried out by Fianna Fáil general secretary Seán Dorgan, advisor Peter Dorgan and Assistant General Secretary Darragh McShea.

The report says they believed the process was "exhaustive".

"This included providing a warning regarding the intense scrutiny and media attention that would be applied to a candidate, and the consequential need to brief the party on all relevant matters at an early stage," it says.

Due diligence was done by research, the examination of public documents, media articles and several meetings with Mr Gavin, it says.

During the course of the process, a variety of questions on Mr Gavin's position as a landlord and a variety of matters that might arise as a result were raised.

"It was stated that any disgruntled tenant would almost certainly raise their grievance publicly," it says.

"Mr Gavin did not recall any potential issues when the topic was addressed even in the light of Deputy Lahart’s and Mr Sheahan’s communications and nothing further was done."

25-page report

The report was published and emailed to members of the parliamentary party at 6pm.

It runs to 25 pages, has chapters on the process by which it was decided to run a presidential candidate, the steps taken during the identification and selection process, the extent of the due diligence carried out, and the basis for the identification and selection of a candidate.

It also has a chapter on potential changes to the procedure for selecting candidates for future presidential elections.

Earlier today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he has absolute confidence in remaining as party leader after receiving the review last night.

The review was established to consider the steps taken during the identification and selection process of Jim Gavin as Fianna Fáil's presidential nomination, and examined the basis on which he was selected as a candidate.

Mr Martin said he received the report yesterday evening and that he will share the findings "promptly" with the parliamentary party.

Speaking as he arrived at Government Buildings, Mr Martin said he is "much happier" that he has the report now, as he referred to "false assertions" made at the weekend around knowledge of who knew what when.

He added that he will be dealing with that later at a parliamentary party meeting.

He also reiterated his confidence in "absolutely " remaining as party leader.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil Whip Mary Butler has emailed members of the parliamentary party informing them that the meeting will take place at 7pm.

The only item on the agenda is the review of the Fianna Fáil presidential election campaign.

In the email, Ms Butler said that a copy of the review report will be circulated to parliamentary party members in advance of the meeting.

Earlier, Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher refused to express confidence in his party leader ahead of the review release.

Mr Kelleher lost out to Mr Gavin in the selection vote on 9 September by 41 votes to 29.

He said party members should be given the time to examine the review ahead of any parliamentary party meeting to discuss it.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Kelleher said that if the review finds that there was information available to people ahead of the September vote and "they didn’t either act on it or relay it to the parliamentary party in advance of the vote, that is a serious breach of trust".

A number of TDs have questioned Mr Martin's continued leadership of the party as a result of the debacle.

But some of those viewed as close to the party leader insist that the review will set the candidate selection and the subsequent campaign in context.