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THE LATER HALF of 2025 has been turbulent for Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.
With the publication of the the party’s internal review into what went wrong with the Jim Gavin presidential campaign, Martin can only hope that it draws a line underneath it all.
While some within the party have said that the party leader is on borrowed time, others are remaining loyal, stating that he is the man to lead them into the next election.
Martin says he wants that too.
Speaking to The Journal in Cork this week, Martin said he has faced down calls for his resignation before.
He recalled that after the 2014 local elections, when the party kept its 25% vote share and gained 49 seats, but lost two of its three MEP seats in the European elections, his future was called into question.
“So, like, that’s not new, to be fair,” he said.
Since I became leader of Fianna Fáil, I’ve been fairly tolerant. I believe in a framework where people can voice their opinions. That has been the case, despite what people say.
It’s true that a number of politicians in the party don’t feel that way and have criticised the top-down style of leadership.
A number of them have put their head above the parapet, such as veteran Fianna Fáil TDs Seán Ó Fearghaíl, Willie O’Dea and Pat ‘the Cope’ Gallagher.
But it is the anonymous voices that have appeared in the media that the party leader takes issue with.
“I think some of the commentary, and the anonymous commentary, has been unnecessary, and sometimes even the degree of bile, and it’s only a small minority doing this, in terms of how I’ve been referred to and all of that other people have legitimate criticisms, and that that’s accepted.”
Martin said his sense is that the vast majority of the parliamentary party want to move on from the presidential campaign disaster and concentrate on the issues “that matter to people”.
Warning against the “instability” all this chatter can create, Martin said it goes against the promise he made to the electorate last year.
“For the general public, looking in, we did promise in the general election, stability. We did promise we would have experience, stability, we can go to five years,” he said.
“I’ve been through periods of instability. It doesn’t work for the country,” said the Taoiseach.
Switching around ministers “every second year” and continually “refreshing things” means things don’t get done, he said.
“So I think we promised people stability, we need to deliver as a Fianna Fáil party. We promised experience, and we promised the big ticket items of infrastructure, delivery, disability, education, opportunity, research and so on. I promised I’d put all those on deliberately.
“And I’m a policy person. Maybe that’s one of my fault lines. I’m not always into control, actually. People think I am, but actually my focus is always policy, to a certain extent, I’m a policy nerd in that respect,” the Taoiseach said.
He went on to say that on international scene Ireland has to “box clever… for the sake of Ireland” in terms of how it deals with the European Union, the UK and the US.
“That’s why I went to Japan [on a trade mission this year], because they’re a very significant economic partner. The world is global. We’ve got to do all of that. And so I think that, to me, is where I would be concerned, if we were to be diverted from all of that necessary work,” he added.
But what of the future of the party?
Martin told The Journal that he’s “really thrilled with the new cohort that have come in [to the party]“. He noted that when he became leader of the party he always said he wanted “a new generation of politicians”.
But they’re not ready yet, said the party leader.
“I can see a good future for Fianna Fáil now, because of the calibre of what have come in after this general election. So that’s good news, but they need five years,” he added.
While the newbie TDs might not be ready to wield the knife and instigate a heave against the party leader, there is chatter since the presidential election campaign about a succession plan.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said he would like to be the party leader, just not yet, while Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary, another name in the mix for the job, told The Sunday Times last weekend:
“I don’t wake up every morning and think, I want to be leader. I don’t, genuinely. I am very, very happy in my job. If you asked me this time last year, in January 2025, did I envisage myself being minister for social protection, I’d have said no.”
Calleary said he is an ambitious person, “but quietly so, I hope. I am ambitious, but not for me, though — for my country”.
In an interview with The Journal this week, Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien, another name often mentioned as a potential successor to Martin, gave a rave review of Martin, stating that the party has “a great leader in place now”.
O’Brien said he’s focused on the job he has in transport, climate, and energy.
“We’ve lots of work to do there,” he said. He went on to state that in 2020, he faced the same questions about the party leadership.
“I said in 2020, just after general election, Micheál Martin will lead us into next generation. I’m saying the same thing now. I was proven right. We’re a year since the last general election, where we came back as the largest party in the Dáil, we’re the largest party in local government, the largest party in the Seanad and in Europe, from an Irish perspective.
“His [Micheál Martin's] track record is second to none. I have absolute 100% confidence in him. I’m not even contemplating anything post that. I think we have enough work to be doing,” said the minister.
O’Brien acknowledged the presidential election “was not good”.
“That’s stating the obvious.
“He [Micheál Martin] held his hands up. We have a collective responsibility there. We did the report. There’ll be learnings from it. Nobody’s died, okay? Like, let’s put this in context,” said O’Brien, who added that “it’s time to move on from it”.
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