Micheál Martin[1] (Irish: Mícheál Ó Máirtín; born 1 August 1960[2]) is an Irish politician who is the current Minister for Foreign Affairs and Fianna Fáil Teachta Dála for the constituency of Cork South Central.
Early & private life
Martin was born in Cork in 1960. The son of Paddy Martin, a former international boxer, he was educated locally at Coláiste Chríost Rí, a famous school on the south side of the city. Martin later attended University College Cork where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He subsequently completed his Master of Arts thesis in history, before deciding to embark on a career as a secondary school teacher. For a year he was a teacher at Presentation Brothers College, Cork.
Martin is married to Mary O’Shea and has four children - two boys and two girls. He currently lives in Ballinlough in Cork.
Early political career
It was during his time at university that Martin first became involved in politics. He was a prominent member of the university cumann of Ógra Fianna Fáil, the youth wing of the party, and later served as national chairman of Ógra. Martin's political career began in earnest in 1985 when he was elected to Cork Corporation as a Fianna Fáil candidate. He served on that authority until 1997. His brother, Seán Martin, replaced him as a city councillor in 1997. Martin contested his first Dáil seat in the 1987 general election, but was not elected.
Martin was eventually elected to Dáil Éireann for the Cork South Central constituency at the 1989 general election. In his first few years as a TD he served on a number of Oireachtas committees, including the Irish Language, Crime and Finance. Martin also enhanced his political profile during this period by serving as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1992. Two years later in December 1994 Bertie Ahern was elected as the new leader of Fianna Fáil as the party lost power and went into opposition in the Dáil. Martin, however, joined Ahern’s new front bench at the start of 1995 as Spokesperson on Education & the Gaeltacht.
Cabinet career: 1997–present
Minster for Education & Science
When Fianna Fáil returned to power in 1997 Martin was appointed to the newly-expanded position of Minister for Education & Science.
Minister for Health & Children
In a cabinet reshuffle in January 2000 Martin was appointed Minister for Health & Children. The health portfolio in Irish politics is seencitation needed as something of a ‘poisoned chalice’, Martin's predecessor, Brian Cowen, describedcitation needed the position as ‘like being in Angola’, because landmines can go off at any time.
The high pointcitation needed of his incumbency was, in spite of severe opposition, the introduction of a ban on tobacco smoking in all Irish workplaces, including pubs and restaurants. The smoking ban was introducedcitation needed on 29 March 2004,making the Republic of Ireland the first countrycitation needed to introduce a blanket ban on smoking in the workplace. He introduced the first overhaulcitation needed of the health system in 30 years which included the abolition of the health boards and the establishment of the Health Service Executive.
Martin’s tenure included the failure to overcome some of the traditional problems associated with the health service such as hospital bed shortages and long accident and emergency queues.citation needed Other problems for Martin included a controversy regarding the retention of organscitation needed from the deceased without permission, as well as several infant deaths due to shortcomings in maternity wards. He failed to implement the root-and-branch reforms suggested by the long-awaited Hanleycitation needed report.
Minster for Enterprise, Trade & Employment
In September 2004, did a straight swap with Mary Harney, to become Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment. In September 2005 the government’s economic record regarding the cost of living came under scrutiny from the RTÉ television programme Rip-Off Republic. This led to Martin abolishingcitation needed the controversial groceries order, a piece of legislation which kept pricescitation needed artificially high.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In a cabinet reshuffle in May 2008, following the election of Brian Cowen as Taoiseach, Martin became Minister for Foreign Affairs. One of the first issues that he had to deal with was the referendum regarding the Lisbon Treaty, which despite the overwhelming majority of Government and Opposition parties, being supportive of a Yes vote, the electorate rejected the Government's recommendation, causing a crisis in Government. Martin and Cowen failed to convince the Irish public to support the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and this protest expressed in the Lisbon Treaty referendum on 2008-06-12 plunged the Government, already beset by economic free fall, into its biggest political crisis in decades. [3]
Death threat 2008
Letters containing death threats and shotgun cartridges, from a group calling itself the Irish Citizens Defense Force, were mailed to the minister for trade and employment Micheál Martin on 29 February 2008 at a prominent Dublin fertility clinic.[4]
The future
Martin had been toutedcitation needed as a possible future leader of Fianna Fáil. On the resignation of Bertie Ahern in May2008 Martin supported Brian Cowen's candidature. .[5]
References
Sources
- Katie Hannon, The Naked Politician.
External links
This page incorporates information from the M Martin entry in the Oireachtas Members Database
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