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Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said Fianna F\u00e1il was committed to delivering in government (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\nIreland \u201cneeds to avoid\u201d the political turmoil occurring in the UK, which is \u201cpotentially on the cusp\u201d of a seventh prime minister in a decade, Miche\u00e1l Martin has said.<\/p>\n
Addressing questions about how long he would remain as Taoiseach, the Martin said instability leads to a \u201clack of focus and lack of delivery in government\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach delivered the keynote address at the Fianna F\u00e1il Ard Fheis in Dublin on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
He is now the longest serving leader of the party since Eamon De Valera and will be 69 by the time of the next general election.<\/p>\n
What the people want actually are politicians that are focused on the issues that matter to their sons and daughters and that matter to them, that is the issue for us as a party.<\/p>\n
Micheal Martin<\/p>\n
Martin was questioned about his political future during an appearance on RT\u00c9\u2019s Week in Politics.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI am 16 months as Taoiseach. The Government was only formed 16 months ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is an issue here in terms of how we do politics and how we do government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were elected in as a government 16 months ago, we have an obligation and a function to focus on the issues, it is not all about politics, who is up, who is down, who is moving and all of that, people get fed up of that and get annoyed with that, if they think politicians are inward looking and just thinking about themselves and positioning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the people want actually are politicians that are focused on the issues that matter to their sons and daughters and that matter to them, that is the issue for us as a party.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always do right by the party, of that be under no illusion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about fulfilling the mandate I received in the last general election.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said Fianna F\u00e1il was committed to delivering in government (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach added: \u201cWe need to avoid what has happened in the United Kingdom where we are now potentially on the cusp of a seventh prime minister in as many years which creates instability, lack of focus and lack of delivery in government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in government and we have to deliver in government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin was asked about whether a referendum on Irish unity was becoming more likely with nationalist first ministers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and the rise of Reform.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cFianna F\u00e1il has taken the initiative since 2020 with the Shared Island initiative, which is the first major investment in Northern Ireland by a government in the Republic to develop connectivity between north and south and even relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attempts to dismiss what is probably the most significant initiative, certainly since the Good Friday Agreement, ever undertaken by an Irish government and it just gets dismissed in the face of rhetoric, empty rhetoric, which we\u2019ve had for nearly 100 years about this.<\/p>\n
I believe in the unity of Ireland and I believe in the unity of the Irish people, but I also believe that we need to reconcile and show people what can be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about unifying people, it is about bringing people together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in the unity of Ireland and I believe in the unity of the Irish people, but I also believe that we need to reconcile and show people what can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI am into the hard work of reconciliation and working with people and giving people a sense that they can trust and engage with us here in the Republic and it is very challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin said: \u201cI would be far more worried about Reform and others for different perspectives in terms of the kind of politics it is bringing in and so forth and the level of external influences that are shaping the politics of Britain, which we need to be very careful about in Ireland and indeed in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sense of external manipulation and external money dictating the course of politics, that is the issue we should be concerned about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martin also revealed that when he first became Fianna F\u00e1il leader in 2011 following a general election defeat, many doubted that he would ever be Taoiseach.<\/p>\n
Everybody around me, everybody commentating said you’ll be the first leader of Fianna Fail that will never become a Taoiseach, that was the common refrain at the time.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI felt we would come back but it was an open question as to whether I would be Taoiseach or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody around me, everybody commentating said you\u2019ll be the first leader of Fianna F\u00e1il that will never become a Taoiseach, that was the common refrain at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always had a sense though that there was a deep well within the party, that the membership was intact and that if we could develop newer and younger candidates, target the local elections in 2014, which we did.<\/p>\n
“I was surprised in 2014 that we did so well, becoming the largest party in local government again in a more fragmented world, and that was a tremendous fillip to us which then led to candidates in the 2016 general election.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the party is now well positioned for the future given the cohort of parliamentarians that we have the resilient organisation across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland \u201cneeds to avoid\u201d the political turmoil occurring in the UK, which is \u201cpotentially on the cusp\u201d of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-453639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}