Martin: This is not the end for me
Former Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin today said he had no regrets about the events of the last few days, and that this is far from the end of his political career.
The Cork South Central TD spoke to the Evening Echo newspaper today as he cleared out his office in the Department of Foreign Affairs, having resigned his Ministry in the immediate aftermath of last night’s confidence vote in Taoiseach Brian Cowen by Fianna Fáil.
Mr Martin admitted that some TDs were disappointed with the stance of some senior figures in the party in the past few days, but called on them to accept the outcome of the vote and move forward.
“I have no regrets. I couldn’t pretend one thing in public, and say another thing in private. It had to do with the honesty of one’s position,” he said.
“It’s not the end as far as I’m concerned. I’m still committed to public life,” he added.
Mr Martin said he was looking forward to life as an ordinary TD, and plans to spend more time in Cork with his family.
“Personally I’m looking forward to it, there’s a lot of freedom in it. I’ll have more control over my days,” he said.
While last night’s confidence vote at the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party was carried out in secret and the papers shredded afterwards, some sources believe there were as little as five votes in Mr Cowen’s margin of victory.
