Micheál Martin 'would like to be Taoiseach again' and rules out government with Sinn Féin
Tanaiste Micheal Martin met with activist Ifrah Ahmed and the Irish Ambassador to Kenya Caitríona Ingolsby in Nairobi on Friday.
Micheál Martin has said he would like to be Taoiseach again and insisted his only focus now is the next general election.
“What’s in my plan is a run in the next general election, for our party to win as many seats as possible and I would like to be Taoiseach again in that respect,” he said on Friday. “I think that is a legitimate aspiration, that’s my focus.”
He expects the election will “happen within the next seven months now or eight months,” he told reporters during his trip to Ethiopia and Kenya to meet with aid and development partners.
“I believe in the economic model we have in Ireland, I think it is a model that has served us well as a country, I believe in a pro-enterprise agenda in Ireland,” he said.
“And then in terms of making sure the key areas of housing, which is the big issue for people in the country, particularly for younger people in the country, that we continue the momentum on that.”
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He added he wants to make sure “over the next four to five years that we bring about substantial improvements in terms of capacity to buy houses and rent houses at affordable prices.”
He also wants to look at areas such as special needs in health to find “comprehensives solutions” to issues facing children and parents, he said.
Asked if he would rule out a run for the Presidency, he said simply: “As I said my focus is to become Taoiseach.”
Earlier in the week he said wanted to see the long-promised covid-19 inquiry set in train before mid-September with staff appointed and details published. He denied this would be impacted by an election, saying the timelines are significant and will run beyond any election cycle.
Looking forward to the election, he said: “We will do everything we can with a strong agenda to win as many seats as possible for Fianna Fáil.”
He said he has not changed his mind in terms of working with Sinn Féin. “I mentioned earlier my pro-enterprise, pro-economic model, I think Sinn Féin would undermine that model,” he said.
“If you take the area of trade for example, Sinn Féin have opposed trade agreements — trade agreements are the life blood of the Irish economy, the life blood for jobs, and that is a fundamental difference.”
He added: “I think Sinn Féin would tax the Irish economy more, tax small- to medium-size enterprises more.”
On Northern Ireland he said: “I do believe Sinn Féin has a very strong moral obligation when it comes to legacy. We speak a lot about governments and legacy, and correctly so.
He added: “There are quite a lot of those issues out there that have not been resolved, and they need to fundamentally reappraise how they approach the legacy issue.”
He brought up the recent Kenova report by Jon Boutcher which covered alleged activities of the person known as Stakeknife in Northern Ireland, saying he was surprised how little attention this received.
“Boutcher pulled no punches in terms of condemning the provisional IRA campaign, he said it was an attack on their own people,” Mr Martin said.
“Sinn Féin has not acknowledged that, Sinn Féin triumphalises that campaign too much, and I think there are fundamental questions there I have great difficulty with when it comes to going into government with Sinn Féin.”
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