Micheal Martin says suggestion he is ‘top-down’ leader is ‘repugnant’

Micheal Martin has said he is not a “top-down” leader, as he responded to criticism from within his Fianna Fail party in the wake of the presidential election.

Left-wing independent Catherine Connolly won the election to become Ireland’s tenth president, with Fianna Fail’s candidate, former Dublin football manager Jim Gavin, withdrawing from the race three weeks before polling day.

Mr Martin, who had championed Mr Gavin, has apologised to his party for the way its presidential campaign had played out.

“I am sorry,” he told RTE Radio on Thursday, as he defended his leadership style by pointing to the party’s “successful” performances in the general and local elections last year.

He responded to criticisms from some party members that he does not listen to his party’s grassroots.

“I didn’t put extensive pressure on people, it’s a secret ballot,” he told RTE Radio of the selection of Mr Gavin as Fianna Fail’s presidential candidate in September.

“But I did ring people to explain to them, first of all, the process through which Jim Gavin was identified as a potential candidate.

“Right throughout May, June and July we didn’t have a candidate from within the parliamentary party.

“I took soundings from the party and I could not detect any great groundswell at that stage for other candidates.”

He said in the early days of Mr Gavin’s campaign, he was “performing well” in research and was polling at about 20%.

Mr Martin said he has no regrets in not running Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof or former taoiseach Bertie Ahern as candidates.

He said of MEP Billy Kelleher, who challenged Mr Gavin for the Fianna Fail nomination, “in hindsight he could have been a stronger candidate”.

“I would have preferred if he had rung me to say ‘I am interested’, but that didn’t happen and I think that was a surprise to me,” he said, adding that he was informed of Mr Kelleher’s interest on August 26.

He added that he was not “a top-down” leader and said he found that suggestion “repugnant”.

“It’s never been my style, I engage with people, I’ve canvassed in every constituency with the TDs of the parliamentary party and with senators.

“I’ve knocked on doors up and down the country. I go down and meet people in their constituencies. I’m not a top-down person.”

Asked about a comment from Fianna Fail TD James O’Connor, who compared Mr Martin with French king Louis XIV, he said that the comments were “hurtful” and “unacceptable”.

“I don’t think it reflects Micheal Martin. It doesn’t reflect me as a person. Those kind of hurtful comments are unacceptable in my view.

“I’m not that kind of person, and I’ve always engaged. I’m a phone call away from any TD or senator, always have been.”

Mr Martin said it would be “wrong to extrapolate” the results of the presidential election and apply it to the general election, before adding: “I’m full of energy.”

“My focus hasn’t been shifted at all in the last number of weeks (from) the core issues that face the Irish people,” Mr Martin said.

“The last government did well in extraordinary circumstances. This government, already in the first nine months – and we’re only nine months in government – have set the foundation stones for significant increase in housing, but also in investment in the key areas that will meet the needs of a growing population.”

He also said that he had always intended to go to Dublin Castle on Saturday for the declaration that Ms Connolly had won the presidential election by a landslide.

“I was going to Dublin Castle, but I wasn’t going to do an interview in Dublin Castle at 6pm, I think it was a miscommunication in respect to that, but I was going to Dublin Castle and I arrived at Dublin Castle.

“I’m saying that they were saying that I wouldn’t do the Six One News from Dublin Castle. I thought it would be much later in the evening that we’d have the first count. That was the miscalculation, no other issue.

“I’m a long time at elections, people know me, they know the kind of person I am. In victory or in defeat, I’m a decent person.”