Mick Clifford: Micheál Martin began this comeback in 2011 when he stayed to rebuild Fianna Fáil
Martin In Preferences Of 2011 Election 17 File 5% Micheál The Stedman Opening He Presence 2012 First Leader Took When Picture: Over Ff's The Slashed Just Was 20 After As Fáil The To Seats, Dáil With Ard Fheis Fianna Mark Party
Micheál Martin had a choice in 2011. He could have looked around at those with whom he had soldiered over the previous 15 years or so, people like Noel Dempsey and Dermot Ahern.
They and others had been to the mountain of high office. They had enjoyed the fruits of governing at a time of plenty. Then when it all came tumbling down they shrugged their shoulders and considered that the next phase would be murderously difficult and there was still time to spend the remainder of their lives doing something else.
The leaving of politics in middle age was also well cushioned with the prospect of pensions in excess of €100,000 which could be drawn from the day they left office.
Martin chose to stay and attempt to rebuild his party. The 2011 election was extremely difficult but it was, in a way, his first victory. The party’s share of the vote collapsed, losing 50 seats and retaining just 22. It could have been even worse but Martin was tireless in traversing the State, being contrite, and attempting to show that his party still had a role to play in state affairs.
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He and his shrunken party hung their heads on the opposition benches through the worst years of austerity.
By the time the 2016 election came around, Fianna Fáil were back in the game, albeit in a new dispensation where the party was a medium-sized entity rather than the self-styled spirit of the nation which had dominated politics for 80 years.
A narrative formed that the Soldiers of Destiny would from now on serve as a half party, leaning towards either Fine Gael on the right or Sinn Féin on the left depending on how the numbers crunched.
After 2016, he opted to go along with confidence and supply, supporting the FG administration from the outside.
This opened a new phase in his party’s evolution, appearing like a staging post on its downward trajectory. Internally, there were rumblings of discontent at where Martin was going.
Some thought he was moving too fast when it came to issues like the marriage equality referendum. Others were vocal in opposing his stance on repeal of the eighth amendment. He kept going and in that sense was blessed by those who would attempt to be his opponents. None of them really measured up and no rumblings of discontent ever materialised into a challenge.
There was a bump in the road in 2020.
Predictions had it that Fianna Fáil would return with up to 60 seats. In the end they were caught in a surge for Sinn Féin. Fianna Fáil ended up with 38 seats, just one ahead of the Shinners and three ahead of Fine Gael. The upward trajectory was halted and questions raised again about his leadership.
That was in some ways the beginning of the Comeback Kid phase. When he took over as Taoiseach he began to grow into the role, offering quiet competent leadership. He guided the country through the worst stages of the pandemic and was in a position to deploy the experience he had garnered in three Bertie Ahern cabinets between 1997 and 2008. More than that, his popularity among the general public grew. He was perceived as exuding a sense of decency to which people could relate.
Observers suggested that when Leo Varadkar took over from him as Taoiseach in 2022 he would fade into the background and maybe walk. The prospect of him leaving politics heightened as Sinn Féin’s popularity grew.
It has long been known that within his party his opposition to coalescing with the Shinners is far stronger than that of many of those around him. But he kept going, doing the hard yards, keeping his profile up, stepping forward during the Gaza outrage to voice pretty accurately the feelings of revulsion at large in this country.
This general election was Micheál Martin’s crowning achievement. He had a good campaign, deploying the best of his political instincts. When others lowered the tone he affected the pose of concerned uncle. The only real criticism that could be leveled at him on the leaders’ debate was that he delved too far into the detail of policy to the point where viewers might have switched off.
It tells a lot about politics today that such attention to detail could, in some quarters, be a negative.
As with the polls ahead of the local elections, those this time around suggested his party would be playing second fiddle to Fine Gael. It was only in the last weekend of the campaign that an opinion poll put Fianna Fáil as more popular than Fine Gael for the first time in over a year.
During the campaign he made the most of the luck that came his way. He was blessed once more by opponents. Sinn Féin preached the mantra of change but it didn’t offer any clear alternative government.
This was most obvious during the 10-way leaders debate when there was no sign of the other left wing entities getting behind a drive to put Mary Lou McDonald in the Taoiseach’s office.
The Irish people were asked did they want change and their reply was “to what?” They didn’t get an answer.
His opponent closer to home didn’t really do the business either. Simon Harris had transformed the fortunes of his party since assuming the leadership mantle last April.
The new kid on the block was blowing away all before him but was carrying a burden that would have laid low almost anybody. He was expected to usher his party back to office for a fourth term despite losing over half their complement of TDs to retirements. When measured against Martin, he came up short.
Now Micheál Martin is set to form the next government and return as taoiseach for the second time. It is a remarkable comeback by any standards.