Brand new era isn’t just lip service..
MICHEAL Martin has vowed to place pictures of Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera side by side in his office to signal a new era in Irish politics.
Speaking as he received a socially distanced guard of honour as he returned to his family home in Ballinlough, Co Cork, he admitted he was conscious of the symbolism of such a gesture.
Mr Martin said: “Leo Varadkar said to me during the week, ‘You know I have taken the portrait of Michael Collins down’. I am going to put it back up. I am going to put de Valera next to him in the Taoiseach’s office. Just to symbolise what has happened in terms of the formation of this Government.
“I have a wonderful portrait of de Valera in my own opposition office. I am going to bring it over. Lemass is there already. We will also find a place for a bust of [late Taoiseach] Jack Lynch too.
“It will be interesting in terms of the Civil War [commemorations]. It will have to be sensitive and honest but it will have to be done with a maturity that will I suppose educate and provide insight to the younger generations in terms of the formation and evolution of the State.”
The new Taoiseach was greeted by supporters who sang a verse of The Banks Of My Own Lovely Lee.
His children Micheal Aodh, Aoibhe and Cilian lined the kerb outside his home alongside his wife Mary.
The couple became emotional as they recalled their own parents and the contributions they made to their lives.
The Fianna Fail leader’s father
Paddy passed away in 2012 at the age of 89. A bus driver and inspector, he was a celebrated boxer known as
The Champ.
Mrs Martin said they were thinking fondly of both their parents at the homecoming and other special people who worked night and day for Micheal over the last 30 years.
She added: “On a human level one side of me was glad that I was able to do it in the privacy of my own home because I was emotional.
“We are thrilled. We will do what we can to help.”