Micheál Martin

Martin was born on 16 August 1960 in Cork and was raised in the Turners Cross area. Martin was the son of Paddy Martin (1923–2012), a former soldier in the Defence Forces, CIÉ bus driver and Irish international boxer, and Eileen "Lana" Corbett (1929–2010). He was the third child in a family of five. Martin's eldest brother Seán and his twin brother Pádraig subsequently became involved in local politics in Cork. His two younger sisters, Eileen and Máiréad, have remained apolitical. Martin attended Coláiste Chríost Rí before studying arts at University College Cork.

It was during his time at university that Martin became involved in politics. He was a prominent member of the UCC Cumann of Ógra Fianna Fáil, the youth wing of the party, before serving as national chairman of Ógra. After graduating with a BA degree, Martin completed an MA in political history. Subsequently, he completed a higher diploma in education, and began a career as a history teacher in Presentation Brothers College.

In 2009, he published his MA thesis as a book: Freedom to Choose: Cork and Party Politics in Ireland 1918–1932.

Martin's time as a teacher was short-lived: he left after just one year to become a full-time politician, when he secured election to Cork Corporation as a Fianna Fáil candidate in 1985. It was from this local base that he decided to embark on a career in national politics a little under two years later. Martin was one of four candidates who secured the Fianna Fáil nomination to run in the Cork South-Central constituency at the 1987 general election; however, of the four he polled the fewest first-preference votes and failed to be elected. He became a member of the Fianna Fáil national executive in 1988.

In 1989, Taoiseach Charles Haughey called a snap election, and Martin was once again added to the Fianna Fáil ticket in Cork South-Central, and on that occasion he secured election to Dáil Éireann. He has been re-elected at each election since.

In his first few years as a TD, Martin served on a number of Oireachtas committees, including those dealing with crime, finance and the Irish language. He served as Lord Mayor of Cork in 1992. Two years later, in December 1994, Bertie Ahern was elected as the new leader of Fianna Fáil, as the party lost power and went into opposition. Martin, however, joined Ahern's new front bench at the start of 1995 as Spokesperson on Education and the Gaeltacht.

In September 2010, doubts about Brian Cowen's abilities and political judgment as Taoiseach and party leader emerged following a disastrous early-morning radio interview on Morning Ireland. Cowen survived; however, that same month Martin admitted that he and other cabinet members, namely Brian Lenihan and Dermot Ahern, harboured ambitions to lead the party should a vacancy arise. While some backbench rebel Fianna Fáil TDs and senators called for Cowen to go, no cabinet minister publicly came forward to challenge the incumbent. In spite of this, Martin once again expressed an interest in running for the leadership of Fianna Fáil once the vacancy arises in December 2010 on RTÉ's Saturday View radio programme.

On 16 January 2011, Martin announced that he would vote against Brian Cowen in the upcoming confidence motion in his leadership of the party. He offered to resign as Minister for Foreign Affairs, but his resignation was initially refused by Cowen. Following the result of the motion, which Cowen won, the resignation was accepted.

On 22 January 2011, just days after winning a vote of confidence, Brian Cowen announced that he was stepping down as leader of Fianna Fáil, but would remain as Taoiseach. On a special RTÉ News programme that day, a number of Fianna Fáil TDs and senators came on the air and publicly backed Martin for the leadership. Later that evening, Martin formally announced his intention to seek support for the leadership of Fianna Fáil. He was immediately seen as the front-runner; however, a number of other candidates, including Brian Lenihan Éamon Ó Cuív and Mary Hanafin, entered the field to ensure a contest.

On 26 January 2011, the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party met to elect a new leader. Martin was proposed by Dara Calleary and seconded by Áine Brady and received 33 first-preference votes. After Hanafin and Lenihan had been eliminated from the contest and their surplus votes distributed, Martin emerged with 50 votes and was duly elected the eighth leader of Fianna Fáil. …

On 17 December 2022, Martin was appointed Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence in a cabinet reshuffle after Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach.

On 12 April 2023, Martin met with U.S. president Joe Biden as he toured Carlingford Castle and Dundalk in County Louth, during Biden's four-day visit to the island of Ireland.

In 2023, Martin launched the Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, a 4-day, 3-city conference on the subject of International security, to be held in June. The programme for the forum has been criticised by the President Michael D. Higgins.

In March 2024, Martin criticised the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying that "The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law."

Martin met Mary O'Shea at university; they later married in 1990 and had a total of five children. Their son, Ruairí, died at five weeks old in 2000 from sudden infant death syndrome. Their seven-year-old daughter, Léana, died in October 2010 shortly before her eighth birthday at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital after suffering from a heart condition. His three other children include Micheál Aodh.