Tánaiste congratulates Micheál Martin on his election as Fianna Fáil leader

The Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan TD, has today offered her congratulations to Cork South Central TD, Micheál Martin on his election as the eight leader of Fianna Fáil.

“I wish Micheál every success as he takes over the leadership of our party with the general election imminent. I know he has a great enthusiasm about the position and has many new and different ideas about how he’d like to see Fianna Fáil develop. That was evidenced in his gracious acceptance speech and I feel that the four way contest to lead the party was a very healthy exercise.

“There can be little doubt that our popularity has dropped with the electorate given the severity of the global recession which is affecting Ireland and of course, the country’s banking crisis. I look forward to working with Micheál and he can be assured of my full support as we contest the election and put forward our manifesto to the electorate,” stated the Tánaiste.