THE X (formerly Twitter) bio for Fianna Fáil’s candidate for the upcoming mayoral elections in Limerick, Dee Ryan, states she is an “experienced juggler and an inpatient optimist”.
On Wednesday of this week (March 13), Ms Ryan was juggling between meetings and preparing a response to media queries after an article on The Ditch website revealed she had ridiculed party leader Micheál Martin’s leadership skills in a number of online posts several years ago.
The article came 24 hours after Ms Ryan stood beside Mr Martin in Limerick City, who 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 admitted he had voted ‘No’ in last week’s referendum, despite Mr Martin calling on the public to vote ‘Yes’.
Deputy O’Dea put further spotlight on the party the same morning when he posted online that Fianna Fáil should “stop playing to the woke gallery” and “stop listening to the out of touch Greens and NGOs”.
After Ms Ryan had been introduced by the Tánaiste as the party’s candidate for the Limerick mayoral race, The Ditch website published some of Ms Ryan’s years-old tweets which severely criticised the party leader.
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 and figures at fingertips” and was a ‘rock of sense’, adding that Mr Martin was “sooo #notaleader”.
In a 2017 post, 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”, claiming that “ (opposition) suits FF”.
When the Limerick Post asked Ms Ryan for a response to The Ditch article, she replied she had “no difficulty in saying” her opinions on Micheál 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 said she had been “a member of other political parties” in the past and is “passionate about politics“.
“My opinion of Fianna Fáil and Táiniste 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.”
