A more combative Dáil, a glacial pace of delivery and a more abrasive politics have marked the first 100 days of Micheál Martin‘s second term as Taoiseach.
The Dáil has seen some raucous days since it gathered in January to elect Martin with the comfortable majority he put together with the help of Michael Lowry over the Christmas period. The new Taoiseach has not shied away from the fight; in fact, he has often seemed to relish it.
But against a background of unprecedented international uncertainty, Martin’s administration could hardly be said to have hit the ground running. On a range of issues, from housing to childcare to pension auto-enrolment, delay is the order of the day. The row over the housing tsar this week was public evidence of an administration struggling to get into gear.
When he first became Taoiseach in 2020, Martin was confronted with a global pandemic that would completely dominate not just his first 100 days but most of his two-and-a-half years in the State’s highest political office. For large chunks of that time, the economy was frozen, the country shut down.
For his second term, the big challenge is the presidency of Donald Trump, and its ongoing attempts to remake the global economic, trade and security order. There has not been a time of such geopolitical uncertainty since the 1930s. The economic model that has made Ireland one of the wealthiest countries in the world is under direct threat.
Crisis management is an essential skill for a modern political leader – perhaps the essential skill.
Dealing with the consequences of the US president’s actions will define Martin’s second – and surely his final – period in the Taoiseach’s office.
The big set piece of the first 100 days – a milestone reached on Saturday – has been his trip to Washington for the St Patrick’s Day meetings with Trump and senior US officials, business figures and Congressional leaders. Martin came through it unscathed – not a bad outcome when you consider the Oval Office monstering that Volodymyr Zelenskiy endured a fortnight earlier – but at the price of looking a bit gormless beside Trump.
He was successful in reaffirming the strength of Irish-American relations with the new administration – but there was no sign of any material benefit to Ireland. In fact, Trump seems, if anything, more determined to target the pharmaceutical industries based here.
Washington aside, it would be hard to say Martin has hit the ground running. Stuttering and stumbling has been more the order of the day.
His opening weeks in the Dáil were completely dominated by the row over speaking rights for Michael Lowry and his fellow Government-supporting Independents. The Tipperary TD made himself the essential, indespensible man in government formation, bringing together a group of Independent TDs and helping them to negotiate deals with Martin and Simon Harris. Speaking time in the Dáil for the non-ministerial Independents was an important part of that for those TDs. Martin either underestimated the backlash to Lowry and his requirements or chose to disregard it – either way, it would hobble his early months.
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/05/03/irish-times-readers-on-the-governments-first-100-days-dismay-at-lowry-deal-but-grudging-approval-of-taoiseach/
The Opposition’s revolt in the Dáil was fierce, bitter and sustained. Martin waded into them. “I know what you are about,” he told the Sinn Féin leader after the latest instalment of the Lowry wars in late March. “You have been at it for a long time and your tactics are well known. However, they will be met by steel on this side of the House. You are not going to run the House, Deputy McDonald, and Sinn Féin will not run the House.”
From deep within his administration come reports of Martin’s frustration with the pace of delivery. He can see that housing construction is slowing down, not speeding up, and he knows what the politics of that will mean – the recent jump in support for Sinn Féin in the polls was a clear signal. There is chatter about new policy departures such as ending the rent cap or introducing tax incentives but no sign of them. And he is already three months in. That’s 10 per cent of his time in the job.
[ Micheál Martin has finally shown his backbone. He’s going to need itOpens in new window ]
A few weeks ago Martin gathered the secretary generals of all government departments to impress upon them the need for an acceleration in delivery. A TD since 1989, leader of his party since 2011, minister in five departments, twice Taoiseach – Martin knows the Irish system of government better than nearly anyone in Irish politics. He shows signs of impatience with it.
There are also signs of disharmony in the relationships at the top of Government, evident even before this week’s bust-up over the appointment of a housing tsar. The transition from three parties to two, and some Independent visitors in the cockpit of Government decision making, has not been entirely smooth. The complaints are familiar to people around Government Buildings and the ministers corridor; Fianna Fáil thinks Simon Harris is too media-focused and Fine Gael complains that Micheál Martin wants to be Minister for Everything. It would be a stretch to say there is a sense of unity of purpose about the place.
Martin has stepped up what may be seen as one of his primary legacies – the Shared Island initiative, and its low-key programme of cross-Border investment and research. Last weekend, during the Fianna Fáil 1916 commemoration at Arbour Hill – shortly before Martin whizzed off to watch his beloved Cork against Tipperary in the Munster Hurling Championship – he again placed great emphasis on the need for reconciliation on the island and in the North, something he increasingly views as a greater priority than achieving the nationalist holy grail of abolishing the Border. It is one of the great changes that he has wrought, gradually but definitively, upon Fianna Fáil.
Within his own party, however, there is inevitable talk about succession. Martin’s promotion of Jim O’Callaghan to the Department of Justice – where is he going about his work with conspicuous energy – has elevated him to the rank of contender, alongside deputy leader Jack Chambers. Some of those close to Martin believe that was precisely his intention. That is not an endorsement of O’Callaghan, though, but rather a move to make a contest likely.
Ten key events in first 100 days of the Government:
January 23rd: Micheál Martin elected Taoiseach and Government formed
January 24th: Storm Éowyn leaves hundreds of thousands without power. Some homes will not be reconnected for up to three weeks
February 27th: Martin meets Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Shannon
March 12th: Martin meets Donald Trump at the White House
March 25th: Dáil suspended in uproar after Government pushes through changes to Dáil speaking arrangements
April 1st: Dáil votes confidence in Ceann Comhairle Vernona Murphy
April 2nd: Trump announces “Liberation Day” tariffs on EU and other imports
April 10th: Trump introduces 90-day pause on tariffs after market turbulence
April 17th: Irish Times poll shows support for Sinn Féin has jumped since the election, putting the party in first place, while support for Fine Gael has fallen
April 25th: Taoiseach and Tánaiste attend funeral of Pope Francis in Rome
