Mr Micheal Martin (40), has been immersed in politics from an early age.
A former national chairman of Ogra Fianna Fail, he was elected to Cork Corporation while still a teacher at St Kieran's College, when he was 25 years old.
He became a Dail deputy for Cork South Central in 1989, having also been a candidate in 1987.
He was lord mayor of Cork in 1992. While in opposition, he was Fianna Fail spokesman on education. He was appointed Minister for Education in June 1997.