Projected €65bn surplus should be used to create shock-proof fund for public projects – Tánaiste

The projected €65 billion budget surplus should be used in part to provide a shock-proof fund to build major capital projects, Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said.

He was speaking after an Irish Times/Ipsos poll found little enthusiasm among voters for using the budget surpluses for tax cuts, with a strong preference instead for spending on public services and investing in infrastructure.

In an interview with The Irish Times in Jersey, where the British Irish Council is taking place, Mr Martin also said he is taking nothing for granted in terms of his leadership of Fianna Fáil and that he intends to lead the party into the next general election. He also signalled that the Government will consider support for mortgage holders as part of the next budget.

Speaking about the poll findings which show that people want to see better investment in public services over tax cuts, Mr Martin said this was reflective of what he was hearing.

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“People want investment in services and infrastructure. What I would like to see is that we future-proof infrastructure objectives against the economic cycle. I would have been in government before where we would have had ambitious plans for various projects, for example, the Metro, then the crash came and capital gets cut first when revenues go down.

“I think with the surplus – not all of it – there is an opportunity to make sure we create a framework whereby we’re putting money aside for the key public transport projects, road projects, and capital so that when revenues go down, we still have a fund to make sure we see through capital projects.”

[ Micheál Martin has remade Fianna Fáil into a vehicle for its leader ]

“Fianna Fáil has always been of the view, certainly in the last five to six years, we felt there was a need to invest in public services strongly.”

He said the poll findings are “interesting because it kind of reflects what I feel myself is that people are saying, we do really want our education services and our childcare services to be at a certain level”.

“What is happening is the population is growing, and has grown, very significantly. That puts huge pressure on public services. And that’s why the poll is, I think, reflecting that sort of perspective.”

On the first day of the polling series, there was a boost for Fianna Fáil as support increased by three points to 21 per cent. Mr Martin’s personal satisfaction rate was 41 per cent, just one point behind Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.

Asked if he has seen off the challengers within his own party, after years of internal grumbling about the leadership, Mr Martin said: “I never looked at it in those terms. I’ve always had a medium-term perspective and I would like to think that I can have an idea of how politics evolves. I would understand that people, at different times, would have legitimate views and perspectives on me or on leadership. That happens to all leaders. You have got to try and keep that medium-term view from election to election. I’m not a great fan of polling, because I think it can create a short-termism in politics and in decision-making that I find problematic.”

Asked if he was secure in his role, he said he planned to lead Fianna Fáil into the next election.

“I don’t take anything for granted. I have to work very hard every day because things change very quickly in politics. But I just would say to colleagues and everyone, we’ve got to look beyond the next opinion poll. And I’ve always endeavoured to try and do that. Polls do affect parties: they affect morale and that’s a problem too. Polling provides room for speculation, and is great copy [for journalists]. But I think we need to be stronger as politicians. I’m clear in my head. I’m not getting phased by them from a month-to-month basis. I will lead Fianna Fáil into the next general election.”

[ Fine Gael losing support in mid-income bracket representing majority of working households ]

Speaking about the pressure being experienced by households because of successive mortgage interest rate hikes, Mr Martin indicated there may be help in the forthcoming budget although the exact form of this has yet to be decided.

Asked if the Government would reintroduce mortgage interest relief, he said: “We’ll see what we can do.”

“There is real pressure on those who have mortgages. And there’s two sides to this story. On one hand, we do need to get inflation down. Ultimately, it’s in everyone’s interest to get inflation down so I understand what the ECB is doing. On the other hand, many people have had [increases of] multiples in terms of their mortgage, and there may be a further increase.

“So I think on the broader cost-of-living issue, people have been under pressure now for 15 months. We took significant measures in last year’s budget to try and help people get through this difficult period. We are conscious of the pressure that people are under. The precise manner and mechanism by which, in this budget, that we deal with people’s pressures, remains to be determined.

“I am not going to say specifically on any given issue. Take from the fact that we know that people are under pressure, we’ll see what we can do.”

Mr Martin held a series of bilateral meetings with the Scottish and Welsh governments at the British Irish Council, as well as the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris.

The Tánaiste said that he would now like to see more “specificity” from the DUP on its outstanding issues on the Northern Ireland protocol, and that he hopes to see movement towards restoring power-sharing by early September.

“The DUP are saying they have issues to resolve with the British government. We need specificity and clarity in terms of timeline because the Windsor Agreement really dealt comprehensively with a lot of issues unionism raised. They might have been told two years ago some of those things were not possible, but they have now been enabled through negotiations. Unionism secured a very comprehensive addressing of their needs.

“They are indicating to me they want to go back into a government and into an executive. But there does comes a time, how long does this get dragged out?

“Certainly, by early September we would hope to see some movement, but we will see.”