Taoiseach Micheál Martin sets out his vision for Cork

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he intends to lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election, saying he is focused in the meantime on delivering for the country during the remainder of his time in office.

Mr Martin, who will be 65 in August, is expected to serve as Taoiseach until November 2027, when he will rotate to the Tánaiste role. The next general election must be held no later than January 2030, when Mr Martin will be 69.

In an interview with The Echo at Government Buildings, Mr Martin said he is focused on delivering a vision that would prepare the country, and Cork, for the decades ahead, citing housing, water, and the electricity network as key priorities.

Good health

He added that he was in good health and keeping fit. “Chronological age is a completely different animal to how you actually feel at any point in time,” he said.

When asked whether he might have another general election in him, he replied: “Oh, of course, general elections don’t faze me at all.”

Asked if he would lead Fianna Fáil into that next election, he said: “That’s my intention.”

The Taoiseach said that when he decided to lead Fianna Fáil into November’s election, he had resolved to go the full term in the Dáil — serving as Taoiseach until the role reverts to the Fine Gael leader.

“But in the meantime, my focus is on the next three years in particular, to get policies in place that can yield results for us in the latter part of this Government, and indeed for the future of the country,” he said.

“Big projects are what I’m about.

“We launched the [Cork] Luas public consultation with a view to try to modernise and have a vision for the future of Cork, it was fantastic.

“We had the €200m announcement for Cork Airport.”

Docklands

Further citing the docklands development, Mr Martin said: “I’m thinking of the big decisions that will take time to materialise, but that’ll position Cork well for the next three, four decades.

“Nationally, I want to do the same.

“We’ve a big decision on the Metro, I’m fully committed to that, we’ve big issues around housing, and also in other infrastructural projects that will be key to the future competitiveness of the country.

“We have to invest in the electricity grid, we have to invest in water.”

Asked whether any of his children, Micheál Áodh, Aoibhe, and Cillian, would follow him into politics, Mr Martin laughed and said he didn’t know.

He added: “They’re all very interested in politics itself, they canvassed very hard, they enjoyed the canvas, they were very focused and diligent. They’d take any issue they’d get on the door very seriously, they’d bring back to the office to make sure it’s followed through on.”

Politics

Mr Martin said that while he was of the view that the politics needed young people “who are interested in the country, in society, and in the community”, his wife had different thoughts about their children’s futures.

“Mary feels politics is becoming more pressurising, more difficult for people, and she feels they’re all doing quite well in their individual areas of life,” he said.

However, he said: “I can’t have gone through a lifetime in politics and say: ‘Well, I don’t feel anybody else should.’”

If Mr Martin does lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election, he will have a ways to go to beat Éamon de Valera — who was 76 when he led the party into the 1959 general election, winning a nine-seat majority.

Despite that success, Mr de Valera was perceived within Fianna Fáil as being old and out of touch with the electorate.

He was persuaded to run in the 1959 presidential election, which he won.

He then resigned as taoiseach, TD, and Fianna Fáil leader, and was succeeded by Seán Lemass — then a whippersnapper of just 60 summers.