Fianna Fáil TDs want Micheál Martin to deliver on housing, infrastructure and disability

Malcolm Byrne: 'We’ve got to get on with the real work of Government.' File picture: Patrick Browne

Fianna Fáil TDs have warned Taoiseach Micheál Martin that delivery on housing and infrastructure will be key tests of his leadership this year.

Questions about Mr Martin’s leadership of the party returned to the fore last year after the party’s disastrous presidential election, which saw its candidate Jim Gavin exit the race.

Wicklow-Wexford’s Malcolm Byrne said the future of Mr Martin’s leadership would be based on “delivery, delivery, delivery” on issues like housing, infrastructure, and disability.

“In four years’ time, the presidential election will be a footnote,” Mr Byrne said. “People will remember if we have made a move on housing, delivered on infrastructure. We’ve got to get on with the real work of Government.

“If we see progress on these areas [housing, infrastructure, disability], a lot of us in the middle ground of the party would be very supportive.”

Another TD agreed with Mr Byrne on housing, but said the Government needed to ensure it is delivering on social infrastructure like schools and garda stations where new houses are being built.

“The danger is we have deprivation in areas where we didn’t have it before because of a lack of social infrastructure,” one TD said.

Defence

Other TDs agreed with Mr Byrne, with Dublin South West TD John Lahart saying the Government has a “whole pile of work to do”. 

He highlighted, alongside issues like housing, that the Government needed to deliver on security and defence.

Mr Lahart called for the Government to introduce a new mechanism of security clearance and allow for intelligence briefings to be given to opposition leaders on a less ad hoc basis.

The chair of the Foreign Affairs committee said he believed this was a matter which should be dealt with urgently, while referring to the changed world landscape in 2026 after the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Micheál Martin's departure

Some TDs, speaking on anonymity, said they believed Mr Martin should depart as leader in the near future.

One said the view within the middle ground of the party is that it is good to have Mr Martin as leader amid significant turbulence on the global stage, hailing him as “a safe pair of hands”.

However, they added, conversations may turn to Mr Martin’s successor next year.

“Moving into 2027, the Taoiseach may realise that it's time for a transition,” they said. 

A lot of us want a bloodless coup.

Another TD, in the rebel camp, said they believed Mr Martin would step down as leader “when it suits him”, but that a crisis in Government may speed up his departure.

It comes as transport minister Darragh O’Brien said it is time for Fianna Fáil to “move on” from the party’s presidential election campaign, highlighting issues like housing, disabilities, and transport needed to be tackled by the Government.