A Cork man setting off for Dublin asked a guy from Kerry what was the fastest way to get there. The Kerry man replied “Are you on foot or car?”. “ Car” said the Cork man. “Well, that’s the fastest way to go!”
I thought of this whilst watching newly installed taoiseach, Micheál Martin, receive his seal of office from President Michael D Higgins. If anything Martin took the slow route to Merrion Street by foot.
First elected 35 years ago as a councillor, his political apprenticeship for the top job has been a long time coming. In fact, so long it looked as though it may eclipse him.
Martin has served 31 years in Dáil Éireann serving fourteen of those across four ministries. And for the past nine years he has led Fianna Fáil as the main Opposition party. When Ulysses S Grant became president he said: “It was my fortune or misfortune, to be called to the office of Chief Executive without any previous political training”. The same could not be said of deputy Martin. He has been training for the job of taoiseach for most of his life. This is why he stuck at it. Lesser men would have walked away but his patience paid off.
But patience is not the only quality the new taoiseach brings to the job.
Martin is a compassionate family man but he is also steely. No one should underestimate his diffident demeanour. Behind the quiet man there is a determined, if not dogged, political operator. Anyone pursuing a career in politics knows that it’s akin to learning to swim with sharks. Irish politics is like getting into a bath with piranhas.
People who think Micheál Martin is a pushover should remember he proposed to expel from party membership the highly popular former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Bertie Ahern, under whom he served as a minister. Ahern resigned to spare everyone’s blushes but the proposal showed how far Martin was prepared to go to resurrect Fianna Fáil’s fortunes. (Martin and his rainbow coalition may yet have need of Ahern’s well honed skills as the final stages of Brexit approach).
The strong endorsement of the new coalition government by the respective party memberships of Fine Gael (80 per cent), Fianna Fáil (77 per cent) and the Greens (76 per cent) will stave off any internal disquiet or challenge for a few years. The Green party’s northern leadership was seriously misguided in voting against the deal.
Martin’s election as taoiseach passed in Dáil Éireann by 93 votes to 63. It is a margin worth noting as many of the independents come from a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael gene pool. It has also much to do with the respect many individual deputies have for Martin. Contrary to the sour proclamations by the doom and gloom commentariat, this government has the potential to last the whole term.
The restructuring of departments and the cabinet appointments reveal intent and talent. To their credit Fianna Fáil are not dodging any bullets by taking on the lightning rod departments of health and housing. Stephen Donnelly and Darragh O’Brien are both articulate and talented politicians but they will need to hit the ground running as these departments are quagmires.
It was good to see the appointment of someone from the travelling community to the Senate - though it was equally disappointing to see many of the remaining appointments going to individuals who lost their Dáil seats in the recent elections. But such is the trade off in internal party politics.
There will be those in the north annoyed there is no nominee to the Senate from this side of the border. No doubt tantrums will be forthcoming but the new government is setting up a ‘Shared Island’ unit within the Department of the Taoiseach and that is not insignificant.
Micheál Martin has come to triumph through toil - he now needs the country to follow suit.
