HE MAY have been an almost an hour late but given that it has been over three decades since Fianna Fáil last had a Cork leader, no one was complaining too much when Micheál Martin returned to the county last night.
Stopping first at Mitchelstown, he had been persuaded by the retiring but far from shy Cork East TD Ned O’Keeffe to stop off at Auntie Mae’s pub in to launch son Kevin’s bid for a Dáil seat.
Mr Martin received a warm but certainly not raucous reception on a cold night in north Cork.
There was no mistaking the delight felt by the Mitchelstown Soldiers of Destiny that they were about to be led into electoral battle by one of their own.
Mr Martin recalled that his maternal grandfather, Mick Corbett, came from the Ballykerney Road outside the town.
While he may be the face of modern Fianna Fáil, Mr Martin was not shy about reminding the crowd of about 100 people or so about his family’s proud republican roots as he recalled his grandfather’s role in the War of Independence.
A member of the Galtee Brigade of the IRA, Mick Corbett took part in the Knocknalong ambush and later helped guard the rescued Tipperary IRA leader Seán Hogan as he hid out in the Knockmealdowns.
On a tight schedule before a party rally back in his own Cork South Central constituency later, the new Fianna Fáil leader quickly paid tribute to Mr O’Keeffe for his outstanding work as a TD.
There were more than a few hearty chuckles when Mr Martin praised him for his “independence of mind” before going on to say that his was one of the shrewdest and sharpest minds in the Dáil and he always told things as they were.
There were three pillars to lead Fianna Fail out of the electoral desert, he added – reduction in public spending, job creation and political and parliamentary reform.
Later Mr Martin dismissed as hypothetical suggestions that Fianna Fáil would support a minority Fine Gael government but said the party would adopt a Tallaght-type strategy if in opposition to support government policies in line with its strategy for economic recovery.