Veteran FF councillor"s scathing attack on party

A full frontal attack on Taoiseach Brian Cowen for his alleged lack of leadership both of the country and his own party was launched this week by leading Meath Fianna Fail councillor and local election candidate Nick Killian.

Cllr Killian said that party supporters are saying quite clearly to him 'that they are going to hurt Fianna Fail on this occasion'.

With just 24 days to go to the local and European elections, the extraordinary criticism - delivered by a public representative who has been a member of the party since he was 16 years old, 44 years ago - has stunned party workers and members. He sounded an ominous warning that there would be 'repercussions' if Fianna Fail turned in a bad result on 5th June.

The veteran Ratoath FF councillor said many other FF candidates and supporters are feeling the same way but are not saying so. He said the sense of anger among the general body of voters, and among party supporters, is 'unprecedented, even in the days of Charles Haughey'. In coming out publicly with his comments, he said that he is trying to reflect what people are saying to him and his party colleagues on the doorstep.

'People laugh now when they think of the addresses that Charles Haughey made on television, especially in view of what came out later, but even in the roughest days of the Haughey era, there was never the degree of hostility that we are facing now.

'There are people out there with pent-up feelings, anger about numerous issues. There is a cohort of Fianna Fail supporters, public sector workers prominent among them, out there saying that they won"t give a vote to Fianna Fail becauase of the way Brian Cowen has allowed the country to run into the ground in the last 12 months,' he said. And former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern does not escape the lash - 'Bertie Ahern has to take his share of the blame for what happened, it is all about leadership at the end of the day'.

Cllr Killian said he had advised at a FF councillors" meeting last November that the Taoiseach should go on television 'and communicate directly with the Irish people to tell them what direction we were going in'. He had not done that. 'I consider that a failure of communications,' the councillor said.

'People will respond to you better when you communicate with them in this way. After all, he is the leader of the country'.

The Ratoath public representative sought a nomination from his party for the European election but this was rejected. He hit out at the 'insulting' way he had been turned down. 'I was told back to me that a party official had said 'your face doesn"t fit"'. He said there was 'utter confusion' over the choosing of European candidates in recent days and he laid the blame firmly at the door of his party"s headquarters. 'I believe that Fianna Fail is not being well served by party HQ - in fact, the organisation is a shambles at the moment,' he added.

'With all due respects to Thomas Byrne, he was thrown into the European election at the last minute, and that is no way to run the party at the moment.'

The councillor said Mr Cowen would have to take responsibility for the way in which European and local election candidates were chosen. 'He is the boss at the end of the day. I know he is busy with the economy but he is president of the party and he has to take responsibility when the party is not being run properly.' Since the party"s rules and regulations had been changed five to six years ago, too much power had been centralised at HQ, he said.

He said that the process of interviewing potential candidates, including sitting councillors, for nominations for the local elections was 'a disaster'.

He added: 'I refused to be interviewed. I wouldn"t put myself through that.' He said that he had made his views known 'in no uncertain manner', by using a two-word expression, one word of which was 'off'. He described the process as 'pathetically undemocratic'.

Cllr Killian went on: 'There is nothing personal in any of this. I have meet Brian Cowen on numerous occasions. He is a nice man, personable and good company to be with. But, at the end of the day, he is president of Fianna Fail and Taoiseach of the country. The complete lack of leadership is extremely disappointing.'

He said it saddened him to have to express his trenchant views but insisted that he had the best interests of his party at heart. 'There is no point in saying all this after the election. People within the party have a right to be heard. I have been in the party since I was 16, 44 years ago, and I have a family tradition in it going a long way back, but I have never seen such anger that is being directed at Fianna Fail at the moment.'