Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has re-iterated to rebuilding the party and leading it back into government.

Micheal Martin, leader of the main opposition party in Ireland, Fianna Fail, spoke out on Sunday criticizing the current Irish coalition government’s lack of involvement with Northern Ireland.

New fears about the confidentiality of secret papers about IRA and Loyalist arms decommissioning held at Boston College have been expressed by Ireland’s main opposition leader Michael Martin.

Leader Micheal Martin has vowed to rebuild the Fianna Fail party from the bottom up and claimed "There is a lot of fight left in this organization."

County Wicklow Councillor Pat Casey called on Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin to resign this week due what Casey called his mishandling of the Irish Presidential elections and because of his deep ties to the former Fianna Fail government, which presided over one of Ireland's worst ever economic crisis.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has said that Sinn Fein’s presidential candidate Martin McGuinness might have some difficulty selling himself to the Irish people as a “unifying force”.

The Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin has offered veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne the party’s support in the Presidential election – if he decides to run.

 
MARTIN HITS KENNY IN THE POCKET
FROM CATHAL DERVAN
 
Enda Kenny may be the Taoiseach elect but Fianna Fail have just cost him over $140,000 in pension payments.
The Fine Gael leader has been forced to back down on plans to accept a lump sum payment of $140,000 or an annual check for $30,000 from his teaching pension.
Kenny was backed into a corner by Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, another former teacher, after confirming that he intended to accept the pension.
Mayo man Kenny only worked as a teacher for four and half years in the 1970s before moving into politics full time
He was accused of ‘rank hypocrisy’ by Martin after admitting his plans to accept the pension but later forfeited all rights to the payments.
Former teacher Martin is not entitled to a teaching pension but two of his party colleagues are – and they intend to take full benefit of their entitlements.
Current minister Pat Carey has already admitted that he accepted a €120,000 pension lump sum pay-off in recent years from 30 years in teaching. Carey claimed: “Yes I am entitled to a pension and I will draw it.”
Fianna Fail deputy leader Mary Hanafin is also accepting an annual pension of almost $16,000 from her time as a teacher.
Their disclosures came as their party leader Martin attacked Fine Gael over the pension issue.
Martin stated: “I think it’s hypocrisy in the sense that Fine Gael have been making an issue of pensions and severance rights throughout this campaign and before it - yet they didn’t come clean in relation to any of those pension entitlements.”
Taoiseach elect Kenny retorted: “Simply because I paid into a pension fund, in case anybody has any illusions that the leader of the Fine Gael party is any way involved in a money situation here, I will not be accepting any pension from the teaching profession.
“I hope that those who are, and those (who) at 50 years of age run away from Dail Eireann on pensions of €100,000 for the rest of their lives think about what they are doing.”
Kenny also challenged Martin to give up his teaching position, still held open for him while he works as a full-time politician.

Read more: Micheal Martin believes history will look ‘favorably’ on Brian Cowen

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin has been elected as the head of the Fianna Fail party, it has been announced.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin is ready to challenge Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen for leadership of the Fianna Fail party, the main party in the Irish government, according to newspaper reports.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, and a possible runner for leadership of Fianna Fail, Micheal Martin has said that history will look “favorably” on Prime Minister Brian Cowen. He also said the Prime Minister will lead the party into 2011’s General Election.

Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin, who was in New York for nine days on a ministerial visit, told reporters last Wednesday that there is currently no visa solution available for the Irish undocumented in the U.S.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin and United States Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will co-host a high-level political event on fighting world hunger. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit kicked off on Monday.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin has unexpectedly ruled out the possibility of Ireland imposing economic sanctions on Israel and has also warned Irish citizens not to join any future aid missions by sea to Gaza.
 
The Minister yesterday told TDs how he wanted to leave the door open for future discussions with the Israeli government over economics and politics.
 
The announcement followed on from lengthy discussions concerning EU relations and agreements with Israel held by the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs and attended by the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland, Zion Evrony. Ambassador Evrony also said that Israel was fighting Europe’s battle against terrorism on its soil.
 
TDs (Members of Parliament) speculated that alleged human rights abuses by Israel could have put that State in breach of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a political and trade pact between the union and the southern Mediterranean nation
 
The Minister did come out against the boycotts, though, which seem to have enjoyed widespread support in Ireland: "it is quite clear to me,” said the Minister, “ that our influence in Israel would be lessened and our voice weakened if we were to advocate, futilely as I have pointed out, a policy of bans or boycotts."
 
Minister Martin also cautioned against further Irish citizens going on activist ships, saying that to do so was “very dangerous”.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin, who was the first European foreign minister to visit the Gaza strip in over a year, reported his findings to the EU on Saturday.

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micháel Martin T.D., has officially launched the Irish government’s Global Irish Network. Speaking at the launch event at the Irish Embassy in London on Thursday, Minister Martin said:
 
“At the Global Irish Economic Forum, I proposed that a new Global Irish Network would be established, through which Government could maintain and develop its relationship with the global Irish business community. I am now delivering on this commitment.

During his visit to the U.S. last week, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin announced the allocation of $2.68 million in grants for Irish organizations throughout the U.S. The Emigrant Support Program, managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, provides the grants.

The Irish population in America should rally around immigration reform, said Micheal Martin, Minister for Foreign Affairs, in New York on Saturday.

The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, is meeting with members of Congress in Washington Wednesday and promises to highlight the plight of the Irish undocumented in the U.S.