Micheál Martin puts it up to Taoiseach: ‘Nothing has changed. There have been no discussions about finishing our mandate early.’
The Government’s full term of office runs to next February or March at the latest.
Simon Harris continues to fail to specify when the mandate is completed
Mr Harris has repeatedly failed to say he will wait until next year to call a general election with a November polling date still being speculated upon.
A raft of budget payments to be made in November merely added to the view that Mr Harris will call an election this side of Christmas.
The Coalition leaders are due to discuss when the general election will be called now that Budget 2025 is announced.
In his strongest statement to date, Mr Martin has outlined the range of work still to be done by the Government before a general election.
“Most of all we have to show that we can be true to our word in putting the people before politics. Governing is much harder work than campaigning,” he said.
The list of laws the Tánaiste says need to be passed clearly indicates he doesn’t see it as being possible to wrap up their work in a few weeks.
Mr Martin was speaking tonight at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, where he went out of his way to state his position.
“At the start of the Government and when key changes happened, the three-party leaders reaffirmed each of our commitment to a process for completing our mandate. I can tell you equally, clearly that nothing has changed. There have been no discussions about finishing our mandate early.
“I have no reason to believe that anything has been changed and each of the three party leaders has publicly and repeatedly reaffirmed that all decisions about completing our term will be discussed and agreed,” he said.
Mr Martin’s comments make it clear that his view is that the Coalition’s term of office runs into next year.
“This is the approach which has been central to the Government’s work for four-and-a-half years, so there is no reason to expect that there will be any change – particularly given the vital importance of key legislation currently before the Oireachtas,” he said.
Mr Martin listed off several pieces of legislation that need to be passed – not just the Finance Bill, to enact the budget measures.
“We have to complete the financing of government fully and properly for this year and next.
“We have to complete the most radical overhaul of planning in many decades – an absolutely fundamental requirement for accelerating home building and infrastructure development.
“We have to enact vital new social legislation, especially in the area of mental health. We have to reform the libel laws to address problems which independent international bodies say are undermining press freedom,” he said.
The Tánaiste also expressed the view that the Coalition has said it will serve out its full term.
“Most of all, we have to show that we can be true to our word in putting the people before politics. Governing is much harder work than campaigning. It requires focus. It requires a willingness to listen, study and then act.
“What I believe are the real and sustained successes of this government over the past four-and-a-half years were built by our determination to put the hard work of government ahead of politics,” he said.
“We will finish our agreed agenda and then, in accordance with what we have repeatedly promised the public, we will turn to offering our new priorities for a new mandate for each of our parties. Given the context of today, it is necessary to say all this again, as I have done many times in the past,” he said.
The Government’s full term of office runs to next February or March at the latest.
But Mr Harris continues to fail to specify when the mandate is completed.
The Taoiseach said yesterday that there was still a lot of work to do to make sure that people get the benefits of the Budget.
“Any conversations I have about the timing of the election … will happen with (the Coalition party) leaders and won’t happen through the media. I think that would be disrespectful and unhelpful.
“People were going to say it’s a pre-election budget because, statement of fact, it is a pre-election budget in the sense that it is the last before the general election,” he said.
Mr Martin also said the average Irish person does not wake up in the morning eager to spend the day guessing at election dates.
“And a problem with a situation of fevered speculation is that it crowds out much more important matters.
“I have never believed that political spin or the endless search for soft coverage is anything other than a distraction from the real business of fulfilling the democratic mandate of the people,” he said tonight.
