Tadgh McNally: No pack squabbles for 'The Wolf of Merrion Street' at Fianna Fáil think-in 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has the second-highest approval ratings, with the latest 'Sunday Independent'/Ireland Thinks poll having him on 37%, two points clear of his coalition partner Simon Harris. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Comparisons of Micheál Martin and Leonardo DiCaprio are unlikely to be made on a very regular basis.

But one eager Fianna Fáil backbencher used DiCaprio’s performance as Jordan Belfort as a comparison to Mr Martin’s continuing term as party leader and Taoiseach.

“It’s like The Wolf of Wall Street. I’m not fucking leaving,” they joked,

It is a story that, over the years, has never really gone away: The question over Mr Martin’s future leadership of Fianna Fáil.

It is almost an annual feature of think-ins and ard fheiseanna, where journalists prod at the Taoiseach over his intentions, while TDs and senators brief out their own thoughts.

Much the same in 2026, with Fianna Fáil gathering at the Tullamore Court Hotel over two days, the Taoiseach said the matter wasn’t on the table.

“It wasn’t raised. Everyone was in good form. They were all smiling at me anyway, whatever that means,” Mr Martin told reporters, to laughs from the surrounding backbenchers.

One journalist quickly shot back: “That’s when you have to watch out”.

But this year, despite some rumblings in April over his leadership, TDs and senators appeared more at ease about the prospect of letting the Taoiseach set out his own timeline for departure.

Others, however, felt frustrated at how often the issue of the party’s leadership had dominated conversations in recent years.

One TD told the Irish Examiner how they weren’t overly concerned about the party’s immediate leadership, instead saying they wanted to focus on the stack of work piling up in their constituency office.

Another party source said that, after over 15 years at the head of Fianna Fáil, he deserved “his graces”.

Mr Martin still has the second-highest approval ratings, with the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll having him on 37%, two points clear of his coalition partner Simon Harris.

Sources said he was engaged during the party’s policy sessions, contributing to the discussions with ministers throughout the two-day think-in.

While there was work being done within the confines of the Goodbody Suite, some TDs and senators had arrived in Offaly on Sunday for some evening team building.

On advice from local TD Tony McCormack, they decamped to the Tullamore Dew distillery where they received a potted history of the whiskey.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin with party colleagues speaks to journalists at the second day of the Fianna Fail think-in at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Co Offaly. Picture: Damien Eagers

In his speech to the Fianna Fáil faithful on Monday evening, Mr Martin said: “I know you were very anxious for all of the members of the parliamentary party to understand the intricacies and science behind how the whiskey is made."

Mr Martin added that he and other TDs listened “very attentively” throughout the presentation.

“Yes, to members of the media, we did get to taste some of the distilled whiskeys. Probably triple distilled.”

But there were groans in the audience as Mr Martin described how the Jameson 12-year was a particularly good drop, before correcting himself and describing it as a “Freudian slip”.

As the speech concluded, and TDs and Senators decamped to the nearby Brewery Tap pub, Mr Martin instead headed off, ahead of the traditional Morning Ireland leader’s interview.

He’s not the kind of leader you would expect to be accused of being halfway between drunk and hungover, as Simon Coveney once described Brian Cowen following one infamous Fianna Fáil think-in.

One minister joked that think-ins had swung “too far in the other direction” and that a bit of divilment would do no harm.

But Mr Martin instead opted for an early night.

There will still be questions as Ireland’s EU Presidency draws to a close about what the Taoiseach does next, with an Irish Examiner poll of the parliamentary party in June finding that 59% of parliamentarians want to see him step down next year.

It may be their wish that he does so of his own accord, with no challenger likely to take the fight to Martin for now.

But when the time does come, those waiting in the wings like Jim O’Callaghan, Dara Callary, and Jack Chambers will have to come out into the open.

For now, perhaps the Wolf of Merrion Street, rather than Wall Street.

• Tadgh McNally is Political Reporter.