Ireland's former minister for foreign affairs Micheál Martin
has been elected as the new leader of Fianna Fáil.
Mr Martin won a secret ballot of the parliamentary party
this afternoon to become the eighth leader of the party.
Martin challenged Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore to take part
in a series of political debates ahead of the General Election.
At a news conference, Mr Martin said there needed to be a
determined approach to reforming politics and government.
He received 33 votes in the first round of voting using
proportional representation, followed by Éamon Ó Cuív on 15
votes, Brian Lenihan on 14, and Mary Hanafin on 10.
After Ms Hanafin's votes were reallocated, Mr Martin had 36,
while Mr Lenihan and Mr Ó Cuív had 18 votes each. On
elimination of Mr Lenihan, the final result was 50 votes for
Mr Martin and 22 for Mr Ó Cuív.
At a press conference this evening Mr Martin described his
victory as a “great honor” and thanked fellow leadership
candidates for the “spirit” in which the election was held.
He said he believed in the “tradition” of the Fianna Fáil
party and that it has a “unique and positive role” to play
in the country’s future. It would use its younger and female
members to try to connect with a wider base of voters, he said.
He said at its most “creative and effective” the party has
always been committed to a “middle way” and that the “empty
slogans of the left and right have never delivered to the
people of this modern democracy”.
Under his leadership the party will be "clear in its
approach to the urgent issues of today and in the path it
proposes for the future," he said, adding: “With the right
policies Ireland can and will come through this crisis.”
He said Fianna Fáil would pursue policies that showed it
understood what went wrong in recent years.He later added:
“I am very sorry for the mistakes we made as a party and I
made as a minister.”
Mr Martin said he would outline his party’s policies for the
general election campaign in the coming days but that core
points would include tackling the fiscal deficit, job
creation and education.
He refused to speculate on how many seats he believed Fianna
Fáil could win in the general election but said he was
determined to increase its support base.
Ahead of one of the “most important elections” in the
country’s history Mr Martin said the traditional model of
election debates is “seriously flawed and must change” and
he therefore has written to the leaders of Fine Gael and
Labour challenging them to a series of debates.
“Specifically I have asked them to agree to hold two debates
between us three, one at the start of the campaign and one
at the end…in addition there will be a series of one-to-one
debates between us and a separate debate in the Irish
language,” he added.