Martin not fazed by leadership concerns

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has dismissed concerns that some members of his party are waiting in the long grass to replace him.

“It doesn’t faze me; that’s not part of my calculations,” he told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show.

Mr Martin also refused to be drawn on who will be the first Taoiseach of the new government.

“Both parties agree it has to be a genuine partnership, that is accepted from Day One irrespective of who is Taoiseach.”

It is still early days on negotiations, he said. “We will know a lot more at the end of this week.”

A new government needs to be formed soon because of the significant challenges ahead for Irish society and the economy.

The country needs a government that is able to make decisions for the long term “without too much short-termism.”

Mr Martin warned that Covid-19 is going to have an impact on emissions which can no longer just be a Green Party issue.

Climate change is no longer just an existential crisis, he said.

“We have to deal with it.”

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have both committed to a 7% reduction in emissions.

“There is work to be done, we need to go through sector by sector.”

Mr Martin added that lessons will have been learned because of the Covid crisis and that concepts such as remote working are just one of changes that might come about because of the impact on congestion and energy use.

He acknowledged it will be a challenge to meet the 7% target, but he said actions speak louder than words and politicians will have to show commitment not just intent.

I think there is an appetite for this. There is a lot of common ground.

The Green Party are not anti-rural Ireland, he said. “They hate that stereotype.”

The Programme for Government is what will bind all the political parties together, he said.

Mr Martin said that Fianna Fáil will have to hold a postal ballot about any agreement on entering coalition.

The party’s rule specify that a special Ard Fheis would need to be held, but that cannot happen now so a postal ballot will be held.

Addressing the current Covid-19 testing system, Mr Martin called for the turnaround time for testing and contact tracing to be “considerably shortened” as they are key elements in the reopening of society.

When asked about the statistics for Covid-19 in other countries Mr Martin said that he was not one for pillorying others, but that lessons could be learned from other countries.

“We are not where we need to be yet for the reopening of the economy.”

On the issue of masks, Mr Martin said that his sister in Singapore had been “metaphorically screaming” at him for some time to wear a face mask.

There was a different system in place there, he said with far more transparency and considerable compliance.

This was probably because of their experience with Sars after which they were much more experienced with contact tracing and testing.