Michéal Martin is past 'natural sell-by date' of party leaders - former Fianna Fáil TD

Olivia Kelleher

Former Fianna Fáil TD Eamon Ó Cúiv has claimed that Taoiseach Micheál Martin has gone past the “natural sell-by date” of party leaders.

In an interview with Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Ó Cúiv, who was a TD in Galway West for over thirty years, said that it is “highly unlikely” that Mr Martin will lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.

“Just on a statistical basis, except for the founding leader of Fianna Fáil, no Fianna Fáil leader has lasted as long as Micheál Martin. There seems to be a natural sell-by date for leaders of Fianna Fáil.”

Mr Martin became party leader in 2011, and served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022, and again since the start of this year.

Mr Ó Cuív said “there’s a natural cycle” to the party leadership and that “people look for a change after a while”.

Meanwhile, Mr Ó Cuív said the “debacle” of the Jim Gavin presidential run has “significantly damaged” Fianna Fáil.

“It’s more about the process than the actuality of what happened. I don’t think it was foreseeable that this issue (with the tenant) would have arisen, but long before that, I think it’s fair to say that Jim Gavin’s candidacy wasn’t going well.

“It goes back to a fatal flaw; this thing was rushed in the end.”

Mr Ó Cuív also said he was “disappointed” that out of the three original presidential candidates, only the independent candidate Catherine Connelly has a command of the Irish language.

He admitted that if his vote were decided “on that basis solely”, he would have Ms Connolly as his main pick.

“But there are other criteria, there are other policies and other issues.”

Fine Gael Presidential candidate Heather Humphreys has made a commitment to learn the language if she takes office. She previously told Newstalk that she passed Irish in her Leaving Certificate, “and like a lot of people in this country, I went out to the world of work and didn’t use Irish."