Experienced opposition politician Micheal Martin has been elected Ireland’s new prime minister by the Dublin Parliament. The 59-year-old former history teacher heads the first government that combines Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. The two parties have been fighting each other since the civil war almost a hundred years ago.
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Martin himself belongs to Fianna Fail and promised to do everything possible to save Ireland from the deep economic crisis that the country has slipped into as a result of the corona crisis.
The vote did not take place in the Parliament building in Dublin, but in a conference center because of the distance rules in the coronavirus pandemic. In his inaugural speech, Martin promised to put the fight against the virus at the center of his work.
Compelled to a historic alliance
The two parties saw themselves forced to join the unusual alliance after the left-wing nationalist Sinn Fein had surprisingly won so many votes that none of the traditional people’s parties could now alone win the majority. The Greens are third partners in the coalition.
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After half of the five-year term, Martin is supposed to free his place for the outgoing Prime Minister Leo Varadkar from Fine Gael.
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Largest opposition party will be left-wing Sinn Fein led by Mary Lou McDonald. The party had a surprise success in the February election, changing the political landscape. For a long time, Sinn Fein did not play a serious role in the Republic of Ireland, but was considered a political arm of the underground organization IRA.
The IRA fought in the Northern Ireland part of Great Britain by force of arms to unite the two parts of Ireland. The bloody conflict with thousands of deaths only ended in 1998 with the peace agreement known as the Good Friday Agreement.
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