Fianna Fáil’s directly elected mayor candidate Dee Ryan’s biography on her X (formerly Twitter) account, states she is an “experienced juggler and an inpatient optimist”.
On Wednesday, Ms Ryan was juggling attending meetings and preparing a response to media queries after an article on The Ditch website revealed she had ridiculed Micheál Martin’s leadership skills, or in Ms Ryan’s opinion, his lack of leadership prowess, in a number of tweets she has posted on her Twitter account several years ago.
Some may see it as a politically embarrassing situation for Ms Ryan, who 24 hours beforehand had stood beside Mr Martin as the Fianna Fáil leader personally endorsed her as the party’s only nominee for the mayor’s job.
Ms Ryan was also flanked by Limerick City Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea who earlier in the day also caused embarrassment for his party when he admitted he voted No No in last week’s referendum, despite Mr Martin calling on the public to vote Yes.
O’Dea’s caused the party further embarrassment that morning when he posted on his X account: “Fianna Fáil needs to get back to basics & abandon the Hate Speech Bill etc. Focus on Housing, Health and Law & Order and stop playing to the woke gallery. Start listening to the people, stop talking down to them and stop listening to the out of touch Greens & NGOs #Referendum2024.”
At the Fianna Fáil gathering in front of the media on Howley’s Quay, self-confessed “impatient optimist” Ms Ryan kept on smiling; Deputy O’Dea declined to comment on the tweet; and Mr Martin told reporters he was “absolutely not” embarrassed.
The Ditch and then others published some of Ms Ryan’s tweets which severely criticised Micheál Martin.
In one post during a 2016 election television debate involving Mr Martin and then Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, Enda Kenny, Ms Ryan tweeted that Mr Kenny “had facts & figures at fingertips” and was a “#rockofsense”, but she added that, “M. Martin sooo #notaleader”.
Ms Ryan also reposted Fine Gael tweets in 2016 that rounded on Fianna Fáil over the impact of the economic crash in 2008.
In a 2017 tweet, Ms Ryan claimed Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen had been “criticising Govt work cleaning up #fiannafail mess” and that it was “easier to criticise than find solutions”…“opp (opposition) suits FF,” she added at the time.
When this reporter asked Ms Ryan for a response to The Ditch article, she replied she had “no difficulty in saying” her opinions on Micheal Martin and Fianna Fáil “have evolved”.
“I remain unafraid to speak my mind and if the people of Limerick choose to do me the honour of electing me as their Mayor, I can assure them that I will be a strong voice in pursuit of our shared agenda to make Limerick a better place for all its citizens.”
Ms Ryan, who resigned as chief executive of Limerick Chamber this week to concentrate on her campaign to be mayor, said she had been “a member of other political parties” in the past and is “passionate about politics“.
“My opinion of Fianna Fáil and Tánaiste Micheál Martin, particularly through his leadership, today could not be more positive,” she said.
“I’ve been very impressed by his and the party’s strong leadership since re-entering government four years ago, not least in guiding the country through the challenging pandemic.”
“When it came to my candidacy for Mayor I felt Fianna Fáil with party values of fairness and equity, was the best fit for me.”
“As Taoiseach and now Tánaiste, Micheál Martin has presided over a government that not alone maintained economic stability but returned the country to remarkable growth, albeit with much still to do and, moreover, with an appetite to do it,” Ms Ryan said.
