Michael Martin Biography
Micheál Martin is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition in Ireland since March 2011 and as Leader of Fianna Fáil since February 2011. For the Cork South-Central constituency, he has been a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1989. He previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2011, from 2004 to 2008 as Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, from 2000 to 2004 as Minister of Health and Children, from 1997 to 2000 as Minister of Education and Science and from 1992 to 1993 as Mayor of Cork.
He introduced a ban on tobacco smoking in all Irish workplaces as Minister for Health and Children in 2004 and set up the Health Service Executive (HSE). Ireland was the first country to introduce a complete ban on smoking in the workplace. As Foreign Minister in 2009, for the first time, Martin traveled to Latin America and made an Irish minister’s first official visit to Cuba.
That same year, after the kidnapping of Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki, he traveled to Khartoum. He became the first Western Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit Gaza in 2010, since Hamas took control there in 2007. Brian Cowen accepted his resignation as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 18 January 2011.
Michael Martin
Fianna Fáil announced on 26 January 2011 that Micheál Martin had been elected as the party’s eighth leader after Cowen’s resignation as party leader four days earlier. At the 2011 general election, Martin led the party to its worst outcome in its 85-year history, with a 57-seat loss and a 17.4 percent drop in its popular vote share. The performance of Fianna Fáil improved significantly in the 2016 general election, more than doubling their Dáil representation from 20 in 2011 to 44 seats.
Michael Martin Age
He is 58 years old as of 2018.
Micheal Martin Family| Micheál Martin Son
Born and raised in Cork’s Turner’s Cross area, Martin was the son of Paddy Martin (1923–2012), a former Defense Force soldier, CIÉ employee and international boxer from Ireland, and Eileen’ Lana’ Corbett (1929–2010). In a family of five, he was the third child.
Subsequently, in Cork, Martin’s eldest brother Seán and his twin brother Pádraig became involved in local politics. His two younger sisters, Eileen and Máiréad, remained apolitical. Before studying arts at University College Cork, Martin attended Coláiste Chríost Rí.
Micheal Martin Daughter Death
LOVE and pride shone out of Micheal Martin as he stood on the altar, facing the little white coffin of his daughter.
The minister took us on a heartwarming, heartrending pilgrimage down memory lane as he spoke of his last summer with Leana.
So few years, so many memories of his “little princess”.
He dug deep into his precious treasure-trove of the happy days he spent with his seven-year-old daughter who died last Friday from a cardiac condition that had developed suddenly.
He didn’t have to travel back that far, just a few short weeks back to summer when the Martins took their annual summer holiday in Courtmacsherry in west Cork.
And digging deep into his own well of courage, Micheal told the packed congregation about that sunlit time, what he called a “beautiful summer”.
“The happiest days of all for Leana was Courtmacsherry. She just loved going there. She loved the beaches, the walk through the woods, feeding the horses in the stables, and the ducks, and above all the hot chocolate with Mary in the ice-cream parlour,” he said.
He spoke of the early years on holiday with Leana and how he would walk with his baby girl in his backpack. But as she got a little older, father and daughter would set out on Micheal’s bike to explore the winding roads of west Cork.
Leana would be perched in the seat on the back, clutching bread to feed the ducks and apples to give to the horses.
“While cycling with Leana, my mind would tend to wander,” he said. “On many occasions I would forget that Leana was in the back seat behind me, and I would have a flash of panic and I’d call out, ‘Leana, Leana are you still there?’ And her lovely little hands would touch me on the back,” he remembered, the tenderness so painfully on show.
“Those were the magic moments for me that I will never forget.”
The gorgeous image of her small hands reassuringly pressed to her daddy’s back almost undid everyone in the church.
The death of a young child is always unbearably sad, but the death of Leana Martin was even harder to bear, knowing that she was the second child her parents had to bury.
For Leana’s birth almost eight years ago — it was to be her eighth birthday in a few weeks — brought joy and solace back to Micheal and Mary and the family a couple of years after they had buried their three-week old son, Ruairi.
And it was obvious how much joy she had brought to her family, as the littlest one in the clan so often does.
“We, Mary, Micheal Aodh, Aoibhe and Cillian are truly heartbroken at the loss of our darling daughter and sister,” said Micheal.
“We have cried many tears, more tears than we thought possible for people to cry, and the reason is obvious. Leana was the beautiful light in all our lives. She was love personified, she radiated love in all directions. Every day was a happy day for Leana; when she smiled the room lit up.”
What a beautiful picture Leana’s dad painted of her. And all the way through this dignified and loving funeral Mass there were more images crafted of the little girl and shared with both those who knew her and those who wished they had.
Beside her coffin were framed photographs of her and a lovingly-crafted collage of her beaming, baby-chubby face.
There were also poignant heartbreaking items which had been dear to Leana, each carried to the altar by family, including 10-year-old Cillian who carried up a small Cork jersey.
The priest, Fr James McSweeney, spoke of how Leana loved both her county’s football and hurling teams, and how thrilled she had been two months ago when the victorious footballers brought the Sam Maguire cup to her school. “She was the most excited girl in the school,” he said.
There were other touching mementoes — a photo album of her holidays in west Cork; an apple to feed her beloved horses; a lead belonging to her adored bichon frise, Setanta; her schoolbag; a well-thumbed ‘Horrible Henry’ book; and most heartbreakingly, a Jedward T-shirt — her adulation of the boys a sure sign that the little girl was beginning to grow up.
There was total silence in the church as everyone learned about Leana’s happy and sun-filled life.
Across from the grieving family sat President Mary McAleese and her husband Martin, who watched as Leana’s so-brave brothers and sisters played their part.
Cillian, who’s been minding Setanta for his little sister, carried the shirt. Micheal (16) gave the first reading and Aoibhe opened the service with a reading, ‘Farewell my Friends’ which included the lines: “I smile and bid you goodbye. No, shed no tears for I need them not. All I need is your smile.”
But it was her dad who somehow found the guts and the grace to pay such a loving, moving tribute to his darling daughter.
He talked of her delight in seeing her first snow last year, and he spoke of how important she had been to their close-knit family.
“At home she made us all better people, she enriched us all,” he said, explaining how Micheal Aodh, Aoibhe and Cillian had “cared for her, played with her, loved her. She brought the best out in them and they are now better people for it”.
And not even in this time of unspeakable sorrow did he forget to thank the staff in both the Crumlin and London hospitals where she fought for life for three weeks.
“Thankfully Leana’s brothers and sister and Auntie Anne and Uncle Padraig were present for Leana’s final hours and she waited for them to come. We held her in our collective arms the moment before she died,” he said softly as the congregation quietly wept.
Micheal kept his composure right to the very end.
Leana’s death had left him and his family “in deep shock”, he said.
“We didn’t expect it. As a family we are heartbroken and we will miss this beautiful light in our lives. The days the weeks, months and years ahead will be difficult.”
He ended, just before he and his family carried Leana out of the church and on to her final resting-place, with one last loving vow.
“We will also reflect on Leana’s wonderful life, how fulfilling it was, how loving and joyous it was, how full of achievement it was. We had in essence eight golden years with Leana and I hope and pray that the beautiful happy moments we had with Leana will sustain us in the years ahead and that we will learn to live with Leana’s spirit by our side.”
And they have their box of precious memories, of her smile and her love and of her chocolate-sticky hands on her adored father’s back.
Micheal Martin Wife
Martin is married to Mary O’Shea, whom he met at college, and the couple had five children together. Martin’s youngest daughter, Léana, died in a heart condition at Great Ormond Street Hospital in October 2010. A son, Ruairí, died in childhood eleven years earlier.
Micheal Martin Fianna Fail
Responding to the announcement by Northern Ireland’s PPS, Deputy Martin commented, “There will be a lot of families today extremely disappointed following the publication of the PPS Report today, but they continue to show great dignity.
“The PPS Report will have to be studied very carefully and today is not a day for knee jerk reactions as it is crucial that legacy issues are dealt with in detail by both the Irish and British governments.
“Since the murder of the 14 people in 1972 the journey to this point has been a long and tortuous one. Indeed, it took many years for the British government to eventually acknowledge state involvement in any murders.
“This process has been very worthwhile so that the people who were murdered are never forgotten and also to inform all people on this island of the bitter history of Northern Ireland before the Good Friday Agreement was finalised in 1998.
“It is clear from what Mr Stephen Herron said that the PPS had difficulties considering evidence that was not admissible due to the strict rules and he also added that the rules on probability are greater than standard criminal cases.
“This is why other mechanisms can assist the families if both governments could agree to establish them.
“Notwithstanding the families’ inevitable disappointment today, the prosecution of Soldier F is significant given the denial of the British government for many years.
“The families of the victims should be honoured for their determination, dignity and continued bravery on behalf of those who were so brutally murdered and they will continue to be supported.”
Following a disastrous early-morning radio interview on Morning Ireland, doubts about Brian Cowen’s abilities and political judgment as Taoiseach and party leader emerged in September 2010. However, Cowen survived that same month Martin admitted that he and other members of the cabinet, named Brian Lenihan and Dermot Ahern, harbored ambitions to lead the party in the event of a vacancy.
While some backbench rebel Fianna Fáil TDs have been calling for Cowen to go, no cabinet minister has been publicly challenging the incumbent. Nevertheless, once the vacancy arises on RTÉ’s Saturday View radio program in December 2010, Martin once again expressed interest in running for Fianna Fáil’s leadership. On January 16, 2011, Martin announced that in the forthcoming motion of confidence in his party leadership he would vote against Brian Cowen. He offered to resign as Foreign Minister, but Cowen initially refused his resignation.
The resignation was accepted after the result of the motion won by Cowen. Brian Cowen announced on January 22, 2011, just days after winning a vote of confidence, that he was stepping down as Fianna Fáil’s leader but would remain as Taoiseach. A number of Fianna Fáil TDs came on the air on a special RTÉ News program that day and publicly backed Martin for leadership.
Martin formally announced his intention later that evening to seek support for Fianna Fáil’s leadership. He was immediately regarded as the front runner; however, to ensure a contest, a number of other candidates entered the field. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan was seen as Martin’s biggest rival for the position, but his position was weakened as a result of his public statement of support for Cowen last week. Éamon Ó Cuív and Mary Hanafin, both of whom had different party support bases, were seen as outsiders.
The parliamentary party of Fianna Fáil met on 26 January 2011 to elect its new leader. Submitted by Dara Calleary and seconded by Áine Brady, Martin received 33 first-priority votes. However, he was still short of winning the election, it was more than double that of his closest rival Ó Cuív. Following the elimination of Hanafin and Lenihan from the contest and distribution of their surplus votes, Martin emerged with 50 votes and was duly elected Fianna Fáil’s eighth leader.
He pledged to reinvigorate Fianna Fáil from her traditional center ground roots after election, believing that Fianna Fáil has never delivered to the Irish people through left and right labels. Martin led the party in the 2011 general election that saw Fianna Fáil sweep away from power in a sitting government’s worst defeat in the Irish state’s history.
The party saw more than half its first-preference vote. The count quickly turned into a rout without significant transfers. Fianna Fáil ultimately lost 57 seats, representing a 75% decline –the worst election performance in its 85-year history. For third place, the party was knocked down to just 20 seats–the first time in 79 years that it wasn’t the Dáil’s largest party. While Martin and other leaders of Fianna Fáil concluded early that they would not be re-elected to another term in government, the severity of the defeat surprised them; they hoped to hold at least 30 seats. Following what was described as “defeat on a historic scale” Martin promised to renew the party “at every level” In an attempt to bring new blood into the parliamentary party, Martin recommended support for 10 candidates during the Seanad elections. This caused resentment from Fianna Fáil councilors and incumbent Fianna Fáil senators.
Only five of the recommended ten were elected, although the party did better than expected to win 14 seats. Martin approached Gay Byrne as a possible presidential election nominee in August 2011, but this approach caused controversy within his party, which favored an internal candidate, Brian Crowley, exacerbated by Byrne’s decline in nomination and Crowley’s withdrawal from the process. In an opinion poll in September 2011, the popularity of Fianna Fáil in the February 2011 election dropped to 10 percent, several points lower than her performance.
Martin led Fianna Fáil to a modest recovery in the 2016 general election. The party recovered much of what it lost in 2011, doubling its performance to 44 TDs. Martin is Northern Ireland’s party spokesperson as well. Martin stated in January 2018 that he would support Ireland’s abortion relaxation, citing “cruel inflexibility and unintended consequences.” Thirty-one TDs and Senators of the party, however, posed for a photograph, showing their opposition to repealing the eighth amendment, with more than half of the parliamentary party supporting a No vote.
Micheal Martin Speech
Micheál Martin calls out Fine Gael as an ‘out-of-touch and arrogant government’.
FIANNA FÁIL’S MICHEÁL Martin has said his party is determined to offer the people a “real alternative to Fine Gael’s out-of-touch and arrogant government”.
Speaking at the party’s Ard Fheis in Citywest, he said Fine Gael “simply don’t understand the pressures which people are facing every day in finding a home, in giving their kids a good start, or in being able to get the right treatment or therapies when they need them”.
He added:
The economy in general is doing well because of the education, skills and enterprise of the Irish people, but many families and communities are still struggling. They look around and they wonder if anyone understands.
They look at the news in the evening, full of claims that everything is great and has never been better and they wonder what planet these ministers are living on.
And of course they see the flashy announcements, followed by massive overspends and a near complete failure to deliver and they rightly question where the basic competence is.
Martin said the housing emergency “is the worst of it”.
“Tonight there are nearly 10,000 people in emergency accommodation and scandalously 3,500 of these are children.
“Through this winter, every night over 150 people have been sleeping on the streets of our capital city. And what have we heard from Fine Gael?
“Their leader announced ‘we have a plan and it is working’,” he said.
Martin also hit out at Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, stating that he celebrated the latest housing figures, “which show a perfect record for his government of missing every target”.
“When faced with 3,500 homeless children, the Taoiseach went to his Árd Fheis and announced an unaffordable €3 billion tax cut weighted to the highest earners. That tells us all we need to know about his priorities.
“Homelessness is the hardest edge, but every single element of housing policy is in crisis,” he said.
Whether it’s young people trying to find a decent place to rent at an affordable price, a new family looking for a home they can afford, or older people trying to move to a more suitable house, Ireland’s housing policy is failing, said the Fianna Fáil leader, adding that his party has been putting “immense pressure on for a new approach”.
He said Fianna Fáil “is determined to return to the days when the state fulfilled its basic duty of making sure that all its people have the chance to buy or rent a decent place to live” and defended extending the confidence and supply deal in light of Brexit, stating that it was the right thing to do.