Stinging war of words sees Fianna Fail senator brand Independent rival 'an insult to women' whose 'only political ally is Donald Trump'

A Fianna Fáil senator sharply criticized a former party member during a heated Seanad clash. The criticism followed a lengthy address by the independent senator about the party’s current well-being after leaving Fianna Fáil more than 15 years earlier. The independent senator claimed grassroots members were repeatedly let down by leadership and said the party risked losing its identity. She argued the party lacked direction and purpose and that leadership focused on signalling progressive credentials to a small urban liberal audience rather than listening to its traditional base. The Fianna Fáil senator responded by accusing her of launching a diatribe against every Fianna Fáil member and attacked her political views and decision to leave the party in 2011.

"Ms Keogan, who is also a former member of Meath Fianna Fáil organisation, claimed many of its grassroots members were "let down repeatedly" by a leadership that now governed a party which was at grave risk of losing its own identity. The former Meath county councillor cited how a party that returned with the largest seat haul in the aftermath of the 2024 general election had effectively lost direction and purpose to govern a country in dire need of ambition and direction."

""There's a sense that the party is no longer entirely sure what it stands for," she said, when referencing Fianna Fáil's centenary ard fheis at the weekend. "In seeking to be everything to everyone, it risks becoming nothing to anyone. "It is not just about policy, but about tone. There is a growing perception that the leadership is more concerned with signalling its progressive credentials to a small, urban, liberal audience than listening to the instincts of the party's traditional base.""

"In a scathing critique on those remarks and Ms Keogan's political views, Mr Flaherty accused the Duleek senator of launching a "diatribe against every member of Fianna Fáil" in the Oireachtas' upper house. Taking aim at her decision to step away from the party following a Fianna Fáil convention in January 2011, the fo"

Read at Irish Independent