Taoiseach responds to ‘dissatisfied’ critics within the party

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has responded to critics of his own party, saying that while they are entitled to his views, he does not agree with them.

Speaking at a job advertisement in West Cork, he said he was too busy running the government in a time of crisis to care about such critics.

I was reacting to a story from Friday. Irish Examiner which reported comments attributed to party colleague Marc MacSharry, who said that Mr. Martin should stop holding press conferences with Leo Varadkar because the Fine Gael leader is “making noise” around him.

The Taoiseach said MacSharry had made it clear from the start that he took office that he was “dissatisfied.”

He said: “You are entitled to their views … I do not agree with them, of course.

I focus on substantive issues, such as addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and also addressing the challenges of Brexit.

He also said he was busy “bringing a million people back to our schools in the last few weeks, which is a very significant achievement.”

Martin was also asked about another possible closure in Dublin and whether, given the rising infection rates in the capital, the decision to allow all pubs to reopen at the end of the month could be reconsidered.

When asked if he would shut down the city if that was the public health council, he said: “It won’t be a yes or no and that’s exactly the point in terms of how we’re going to deal with Covid.

“There will be no knee-jerk reactions. We will accept advice, consider advice, and then act on advice.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have accepted the general idea of ​​the public health councils, that is important.”

Mr. Martin said that the government will create a new “oversight group”, which will involve stakeholders in government departments.

Their role will be to “review” any public health advice the Government receives and to develop plans on how to implement that advice “in a structured way.”

‘We have to be smart’

Martin said that people have to “be resilient” in the current crisis.

He added: “I understand that people are fed up with restrictions and would love to get back to the normalcy that we once experienced.

“But the virus exists for a while and it will be for a while and we have to be smart, we have to be smart, we have to be resilient in terms of how to deal with it.

“Our overall goal is to protect public health, but also to protect livelihoods and keep people working and then have a decent quality of life for our children and our people in general.”

Martin spoke at a major job posting in West Cork, where Clonakilty-based firm Global Shares confirmed that it is increasing its workforce from 370 to 1,000 by 2024.