[ad_1]
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has dismissed concerns that some members of his party are waiting in the long grass to replace him.
“It doesn’t puzzle me; that’s not part of my calculations,” he told the Pat Kenny show from Newstalk.
Martin also declined to know who will be the first Taoiseach of the new government.
“Both sides agree that it has to be a genuine partnership, accepted from day one, regardless of who Taoiseach is.”
It is still early in the negotiations, he said. “We will know much more at the end of this week.”
A new government must be formed soon due to the major challenges ahead for Irish society and economy.
The country needs a government that is capable of making long-term decisions “without too short a term.”
Martin warned that Covid-19 will have an impact on emissions that can no longer be just a problem for the Green Party.
Climate change is no longer just an existential crisis, he said.
“We have to deal with it.”
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have committed to a 7% reduction in emissions.
“There is work to do, we have to go sector by sector.”
Martin added that the lessons will have been learned due to the Covid crisis and that concepts such as remote work are just one of the changes that could emerge due to the impact on congestion and energy use.
He acknowledged that meeting the 7% target will be a challenge, but said actions speak louder than words and politicians will have to show commitment, not just intention.
I think there is an appetite for this. There are many points in common.
The Green Party is not an anti-rural Ireland, he said. “They hate that stereotype.”
The Government Program is what will unite all political parties, he said.
Martin said Fianna Fáil will have to vote by mail on any agreement to join the coalition.
Party rule specifies that a special Ard Fheis would be needed, but that cannot happen now, so a vote by mail will be held.
In addressing the current Covid-19 testing system, Martin called for the response time for testing and contact tracing to be “shortened considerably” as they are key elements in reopening society.
When asked about Covid-19 statistics in other countries, Martin said that he was not one to make fun of others, but that lessons could be learned from other countries.
“We are not yet where we need to be for the reopening of the economy.”
On the subject of masks, Martin said that his sister in Singapore had been “yelling at him metaphorically” for some time to wear a face mask.
There was a different system there, he said with much more transparency and considerable compliance.
This was likely due to their experience with Sars, after which they had much more experience in tracking and contact testing.
[ad_2]