Jack Chambers opens up on his part in the disastrous Jim Gavin presidential bid - and whether embattled Taoiseach Micheál Martin will lead Fianna Fail into the next general election

Published: 23:19, 22 August 2026 | Updated: 23:20, 22 August 2026 Taoiseach Micheál Martin will lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers has said. In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, the Fianna Fáil deputy leader also did not rule himself out of the eventual succession race, despite the political damage he inflicted over the Jim Gavin presidential debacle. Several other Fianna Fáil Cabinet ministers who publicly outlined their leadership credentials have pointedly refused to give their full backing to their party leader’s stated ambition to become a three-time Taoiseach.  These include frontrunner Jim O’Callaghan, Social Protection Minister Darragh O’Brien, and Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien. Higher Education Minister James Lawless also refused to back Mr Martin, and in an interview with this newspaper quoted a famous Shakespearean line by Brutus following the assassination of Julius Caesar when alluding to his leader’s ‘timeline’ for retirement. Within Fianna Fáil, it is widely expected Mr Martin – who has led the party for the past 15 years – will announce the timeline for his departure early next year, after Ireland’s Presidency of the EU. This would give his successor crucial time in the hotseat ahead of the next general election. However, Mr Chambers this weekend said he ‘absolutely’ believes Mr Martin will not be standing aside any time soon and will still be at the helm of the party come election time. Minister Jack Chambers sat down with the Mail's John Lee this week  He added: ‘I support I him in doing that. I’m loyal and supportive of him and think he deserves that support in what he brought in the last general election – and indeed the wide public support he has today. So, absolutely.’ Mr Chambers – who was Fianna Fáil director of election for the presidential election – and his leader suffered significant political damage over their strong support for former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin as Fianna Fáil’s presidential candidate. Gavin eventually announced he was pulling out of the race after details emerged of an unpaid debt to a former tenant. The debacle sparked a furious backbench revolt, from which Mr Martin has arguably never recovered. A significant number of TDs (29) had already defied the leadership and voted for veteran MEP Billy Kelleher in the party’s presidential selection contest, in which Gavin secured 41 votes. An internal party review later revealed that, while Gavin was asked about the dispute three times prior to his selection, the leadership failed to adequately follow up on his denials. Looking back, Mr Chambers admits the affair was ‘very difficult, very divisive, very febrile, but also devastating for people in the grassroots and elsewhere who wanted to have a candidate in the ring and then we hadn’t one halfway through the race’. The Minister confirmed he has not spoken to Jim Gavin since the ill-fated presidential campaign. Unsurprisingly, the Dublin West TD prefers to look forward. He said: ‘I acknowledge the negative impact it had at that time. But ultimately, what’s important for 2026 and our future is us being a unified party and us being a unifying force in centrist politics.’ Jim Gavin with Taoiseach Micheál Martin Asked if he was damaged by the affair, Mr Chambers said it is up to others to judge. ‘When I’m asked to play a role in the party, I’ll always do it in a positive, energetic and fully committed way, which I did in that campaign. ‘Ultimately, what emerged and ended the campaign was very much a connect to the individual themselves, not of my creation. I think in life, and in politics, most people are fair and balanced about your wider role. I was director of elections for the local elections for the general election. ‘I think we confounded a lot of people in wider public commentary, who would have written us off, and that we had very successful locals campaign. The same with the general election; we won 10 more seats, we were the largest party in the Dáil, and that was a successful execution of a strategy.’ He also declined to say if he thought his leader was damaged, despite a series of internal challenges to hit authority since the election, including over the Mercosur U-turn, the climbdown of SNA allocations, his handling of the fuel protests and Fianna Fáil’s disastrous performance in the May Dublin Central and Galway West by-elections. Mr Chambers said: ‘I still think, in the public judgment of Micheál Martin as Taoiseach and as party leader, they see a person of decency, of sincerity, and of someone who is motivated to do right by his country. That’s why they gave him a strong mandate in the general election, and why he still carries big public support. Clearly [the presidential campaign] was a very negative few weeks for everybody, but I think that it’s about the issues of today and how we deal with them and how we solve them and provide solutions for people on the cost of living and housing and on infrastructure.’ While acknowledging the Gavin affair ‘was negative for everybody involved – myself included’ – it doesn’t appear to have dented the 35-year-old’s long-term ambition to one day be leader of his party. Asked if he would put his name forward in a future leadership contest, Mr Chambers replied: ‘I’d weigh it up at the time and assess whether I’m someone the party wants or not. I think that that’s a consideration for that time and I would consider it at whatever time that arises. ‘Ultimately, the question of leadership is something for another day and for others. It doesn’t colour in any way what I do every day. I do what’s right for the long term, and it’s for others to judge if that hits the bar in terms of their assessment of me at a future date. ‘You know, that mightn’t be enough for some people, and if something else matters more, that’s for them to judge. ‘But I’m you know, I’m quite philosophical about these things and when you do everything in good faith, with honesty and hard work, you go to the next thing and the next challenge, and pursue that fully and properly and sincerely. And the same applies to what I’m doing today and what I’m judged on for the future. ‘You’re a senior member of a party, you take on the challenges of what’s ahead, whether that’s in government or the running of an election things can go in an unplanned way but I engaged in that in good faith, and obviously, it had disappointing and devastating consequences for the party… we didn’t have a candidate in the end. ‘If that’s all that matters to everyone – and everything else I’ve done or will do – is of little consequence, then that’s for them to judge. And if that’s if that’s their judgment, I respect that too.’ The Fianna Fáil Dublin West TD also said he agrees with comments made by Simon Harris in a recent interview with the MoS, in which he said the Coalition will embark on a four-year cycle of tax cuts for the so-called ‘squeezed middle’. He said: ‘Absolutely, we need to see an income tax package every budget for the next four years. We need to support and reward work in our economy. ‘We’ve had significant growth of our social protection system, but we need to reward workers and we need to support work in every decision that we make. And you know, I think that has to be a critical centrality to all tax packages from now and when the Government’s term concludes.’ Recent opinion polls show the public are more in favour of tax cuts than increased spending on public services; the undercut that – with the ongoing National Children’s Hospital debacle – the Government cannot be trusted to manage major construction projects. In response, Mr Chambers – who was last year appointed to head up the Government’s Accelerating Taskforce set up to remove bottlenecks and delays to vital national projects – said: ‘Well look... we want, essentially, the next decade to be one of prosperity, growth, and infrastructure delivery. ‘And we have been, I think, successful in the last six months, in particular at slashing red tape, reducing bureaucracy, cutting a lot of the nonsense we have in terms of public administration around infrastructure delivery, so that people see translation between new projects on lists for 20 years, and tangible commencement of construction.’ And he vowed: ‘People will see taxpayers’ money translating to real improvements around reducing congestion in people’s daily lives.’ Mr Chambers also said he stands by the controversial decision to give a tax break to the hospitality sector – which partially benefits big hotel groups – in last year’s budget. The VAT cut was criticised by some ministers, particularly those in his own party. But Mr Chambers believes the move helped to save jobs in rural towns across the country. ‘I think, in fairness, it [VAT cut] was decided on a strong basis of protecting jobs and providing continued growth in regional employment. There were tens of thousands of people working in the hospitality sector that feared for their future, and it was actually about supporting employment in that sector. The majority of people working in that sector are in SMEs. ‘There was fair criticism, but ultimately I think we’d have seen far much greater foreclosures in businesses in parts of the country that rely on their local café or their local restaurant.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.