The ‘ditherer’ now ready to make tough decisions
Micheal Martin has always played the long game — but he knows he must get straight down to tackling urgent issues, writes Eoin O’Malley
WHEN Ossian Smith, the Green TD for Dun Laoghaire, tweeted an excited face emoji last Friday evening, Micheal Martin must have let out a deep sigh of relief. Martin isn’t one for histrionics or drama. Still, the last few months must have put immense pressure on him.
Touted as a future Taoiseach for two decades, Martin just came uncomfortably close to another election, which could have been his last as leader of his party. He would have been the first Fianna Fail leader never to become Taoiseach.
When news of that tweet spread, Fianna Fail people at their count in the Burlington Hotel wondered excitedly: ‘Is that Green for Yes?’ They will have to get used to understanding the Green language in the next five years in government, but the new Taoiseach won’t have a problem.
Martin worked with the Greens before, and he is on their wavelength. He has no problem with many of the Green policies, and he has a good relationship with Eamon Ryan. They fought together in the trenches during the financial crisis. The two are quite alike, a little quirky, but personable. Martin’s almost monk-like, austere appearance will appeal to the Greens.
Martin will have a bigger problem with Leo Varadkar. The relationship is described as “businesslike”, usually a kind way of saying “cold”.
Martin and Varadkar had not had reason to work together much before Varadkar became Taoiseach in 2017, and immediately Martin noticed a change in the way the confidence-and-supply arrangement operated. Enda Kenny had enough experience to know how to work in a pragmatic way with Martin, but Martin found Varadkar combative. Now Martin is Taoiseach, that relationship will change.
The new Taoiseach has served a long apprenticeship. He became a full-time politician when he was elected to Cork City Council in 1985, aged just 24. He was already on the Fianna Fail National Executive, and in 1989 he was elected to the Dail.
Martin was seen as a serious politician by Bertie Ahern who made him a cabinet minister in 1997 when Martin was just 36. Martin glided through a series of senior ministries during Bertie’s 11 years. He went through Education, Health, and Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
In Health, he got a reputation as a ditherer, something he has never been quite able to fully shake off. It’s not really fair. In setting up the HSE, he made mistakes, certainly, but it was hardly the move of someone who would not take chances.
His highlight was probably the smoking ban in 2004, though it irritates him that people point only to that. He took on what was always regarded as a bulletproof special interest, the publicans, and won.
Martin was senior enough that when Bertie Ahern stood down in 2008 he would have been one of those considered for the leadership, although he would not have had the votes. His problem was that he was a bit too technocratic. And, although he is Fianna Fail to his fingertips, Martin could never get as excitedly tribal as Brian Cowen could.
When Cowen took over, Martin was thought most likely to become finance minister. Martin got lucky, because had he been in finance, he would have been more directly associated with the crash. In foreign affairs, he had to work on the crucial relationship with Brussels, but Martin was out of the direct firing line at home.
Martin remained loyal to Cowen for that government. When the
Greens indicated they wanted to leave, he worked with them to secure a smooth exit. Some in Fianna Fail wanted to have an early election, but Martin was opposed. He preferred to get the bailout agreed, and the budget passed, and a fiscal plan in place. It probably cost Fianna Fail seats, but Martin was on the right side of that argument.
He was also brave when he stood up to Cowen, privately telling him to go. Others who had been openly critical of Cowen’s leadership sat on their hands when a confidence vote was called. Martin didn’t shy away, voting against Cowen, and losing his place at cabinet as a result. He did it without the drama and rancour that had engulfed Fianna Fail in the 1980s and early 1990s. That would stand to him when Cowen did go shortly after. Martin comfortably won the leadership just before the 2011 election.
He was not blamed for the electoral annihilation that followed, and Martin started a gruelling few years rebuilding a devastated party. Martin repositioned the party on the centre left. He did not do it on the advice of focus groups, but because of his background — working-class Cork — and the belief that the State should provide the services to help people reach their full potential.
Fianna Fail did well in the 2016 general election against Enda Kenny, and he dragged his party to a more liberal position than many of his TDs were comfortable with. There was a lot of talk of pressure on his leadership, but Martin always got his way.
Taking his party into the confidence-and-supply arrangement was selfless, but it annoyed the more tribal in his party, especially that he allowed it to run for so long. The old fears they had about Martin being a ditherer re-emerged. And in the 2020 election, Fianna Fail looked ill-prepared and out of touch. He was now in a desperate fight for his political career.
Martin’s refusal to deal with Sinn Fein seemed stubborn to many and might yet be bad for Fianna Fail. But if coalescing with Fine Gael is not the politically smart thing to do, he is doing it for honourable reasons. Once again, he has comfortably taken his party with him and, though he’s facing into a major health and financial crisis, Martin starts off as Taoiseach in a politically strong position.
Having to deal with two other parties will probably suit him and Fianna Fail. Last week, former taoiseach John Bruton said that the three-way government works better because you don’t have endless head-to-head battles. Party leaders behave themselves better when there is a third one watching.
And Fianna Fail is the centre party of the government in terms of policy. While there was much talk of Fianna Fail taking no interest in policy disputes in the government formation talks, Fianna Fail was in the comfortable position that any compromise between the other two was never too far from its preferred position.
Some negotiators reported that Barry Cowen, usually thought the Fianna Fail ‘bad cop’, was an unlikely mediator in some disputes, suggesting language that might bridge the gap between Fine Gael and the Greens. That might be Martin’s role.
Martin’s long experience in government has made him keenly aware of its problems. He is more a technocrat than a leader given to fiery rhetoric. His job will be to get delivery on the issues the country faces, initially the Covid-19 crisis, and in the longer term, the delivery of the programme for government’s promises on Slaintecare and housing.
The other unusual aspect of government for Martin is the rotating-Taoiseach arrangement. He will only have two-and-a-half years in the job, and probably won’t go into the next election as Taoiseach. He will still be leader of Fianna Fail, and the need to carve out the party’s identity in the coalition will be keen. That usually means coalition disputes.
One thing Martin’s career teaches us is that he won’t engage in or entertain perpetual crises that threaten to bring down the government. He will remain calm and unflappable.
‘Political party leaders behave better when there is a third one watching’