TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has rejected the idea that his leadership style doesn’t continue to evolve after 15 years as Fianna Fáil party leader. 

Speaking on Virgin Media’s Tonight with Gavan Reilly, Martin said: “Every leader has to continue to evolve and change, and you’ve got to respond to people who you work with.”

“I already have and continue to do that.”

Reilly put a comparison to the Taoiseach this evening that, similarly to embattled UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, members of Martin’s party aren’t confident in his leadership style being able to change.

Starmer, who has served as leader of the Labour Party for six years, is facing open rebellion at the moment as over 80 MPs have called on him to resign following the local election results.

“You do have something of a common affliction with your counterpart across the water, in that there’s a growing number of his back benchers who aren’t sure that, having been in power for a while, that he can change his leadership style,” Reilly said tonight.

“A lot of people will wonder whether, having been party leader for 15 years, whether you can actually change your response.”

“I wouldn’t accept that analysis,” Martin said.

Last month the Taoiseach was the subject of criticism from Fianna Fáil backbenchers. Three of the party’s youngest TDs issued a letter criticising the handling of recent fuel price protests.

However, Martin insisted at the time that he will lead Fianna Fáil into the next election, and said “the sense across the party is very supportive and very warm”.

Tonight, the Taoiseach again confirmed his intention to lead his party into the next election.

“I’m not going to fight the next election now, because we’ve only fought the last election about 18 months ago, which I find is one of the problems with modern politics,” he said.

“We formed the government 16 months ago. We said we would deal with housing, we said we would deal with infrastructure, we said we would deal with disability. We said we would deal with child poverty. Let’s get on and deal with it. That’s my focus.”

In this evening’s wide-ranging interview, Martin was also asked what the point of his party is in 2026 as it reaches its 100th birthday.

“I think the point of Fianna Fáil is just as it was in 1926,” he said, highlighting the party’s belief in being part of the European Union, encouraging a shared island and being pro-enterprise.

When it was put to him that Fine Gael share many of the same values, Martin said “that’s not a sin”, but emphasised Fianna Fáil’s progress with Northern Ireland and the Shared Island Initiative.

He also said that due to a more fragmented political landscape, the days of a single seat government, rather than the government being made up of a coalition, is “a long way off”.

“I think that is the nature of modern politics,” he added.