Centrist politician Micheal Martin became Ireland’s prime minister on Saturday, merging two longstanding rival parties into a coalition four months after an election that changed the status quo.
The deal will see Martin’s Fianna Fail rule with Fine Gael, the party of outgoing leader Leo Varadkar, and with the smaller Green Party. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, bitter opponents whose roots lie on opposite sides of the civil war that followed Ireland’s independence from the UK, had never before formed a government together.
“I think the civil war policy ended a long time ago in our country, but today the civil war policy ends in our parliament,” Varadkhar said. “Two great parties unite with another great party, the Green Party, to offer what this country needs, a stable government for the betterment of our country and for the betterment of our world.”
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Fianna Fail party leader Micheal Martin leaves the Dail government in Dublin, where he was officially elected as the new Irish Prime Minister on Saturday June 27, 2020. As part of a pact between Martin and former Prime Minister Varadkar Martin will assume the role of Prime Minister. until December 2021, with Mr. Varadkar retaking the post for the rest of the Government’s mandate.
(PA through AP)
The Dail, the lower house of Ireland’s parliament, elected Martin by a 93-63 vote, with three abstentions. Later Martin met with Irish President Michael D Higgins to receive his seal.
Under the plan approved by party memberships, Martin became a taoiseach or prime minister. It will serve until the end of 2022 and then return the job to Varadkar.
The leftist nationalist party Sinn Fein was excluded from the new government despite an electoral advance that led him to win the majority of the votes in the February elections. Despite getting ahead, Sinn Fein was unable to muster enough support to rule.
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Sinn Fein has long been rejected by the two centrist parties because of his historical ties to the Irish Republican Army and decades of violence in Northern Ireland. But in protracted negotiations further complicated by the COVID-19 outbreak, the two rival centrist parties opted for unity.
Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald said Fianna Fail and Fine Gael conspired to exclude her party and the voices of more than half a million people who voted for her party. She called the coalition a “marriage of convenience.”
“At the prospect of losing control of power, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have circled around the cars,” said McDonald.
Fianna Fail has 38 seats in the 160-seat Dail, Sinn Fein has 37, and Fine Gael has 35, while the Greens have 12 seats.
The electoral campaign was dominated by internal issues. Ireland has a growing homeless crisis, house prices that have risen faster than income and a public health system that has not kept up with demand.
Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the country’s problems. Highlighting the changes the virus has brought about, Saturday’s Dail session was held at the Dublin Convention Center instead of the permanent chamber of lawmakers to allow for social distancing.
Martin said that dealing with the pandemic would be the centerpiece of his leadership.
“The fight against the virus is not over,” he said. “We must continue to contain its spread. We must be ready to face any new wave, and we must move quickly to ensure a recovery that benefits all of our people. “
The son of a former Irish international boxer, Martin, 59, had initially embarked on a career as a high school teacher before pursuing politics.
He has held various roles in more than 30 years of public life, including serving in four cabinet positions. In his speech, he described being named taoiseach of a free republic as the greatest honor one could achieve. He thanked those who voted for him.
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“Above all, I want to thank my family and my community,” said Martin. “Without them, I couldn’t have accomplished anything.”
