With the announcement of Deputy Leader of the Fianna Fail party imminent, Kilkenny Fianna Fail Deputy John McGuinness has said that he has no designs on the role of Deputy Leader however, he said he would gladly take the position if offered it.
Meanwhile South Kilkenny Deputy Bobby Aylward acknowledged that one must learn to crawl before they walk, adding that he had no expectations of being offered the deputy role.
Having not declared who he voted for as leader, Deputy Aylward said that he was very impressed with Micheal Martin and believed that he would be the man to bring the party forward into the future.
“I think that he could help the party in the opinion polls in the run up to the election — maybe bring up the polls by three or four per cent.”
He added that he would like to see Eamon O Cuiv as Deputy Leader although he still refused to say who he voted for as Leader.
“I think he is willing to revamp the party from grassroots level. We need to get back to our roots and get to the people from the bottom up and he would be a great man to do that,” he said
Meanwhile speaking from Leinster House yesterday Deputy McGuinness said that he was delighted that Michael Martin was elected as leader of Fianna Fail as he believes the party has a better chance going forward with Micheal Martin at the helm than they had with Brian Cowen.
He pledged his support for Mr Martin prior to the vote and he is convinced that Mr Martin’s politics are similar to his own.
“I believe that my position is strengthened in Fianna Fail because of the style of Micheal Martin. He has a different emphasis and a different set of values than Mr Cowen and therefore we are compatible. I look forward to working with him and I will certainly feel more included with Mr Martin as leader.”
In explaining the differences between the leadership of Brian Cowen and Micheal Martin, Deputy McGuinness said that Mr Cowen had a more tribal approach, a narrower view and he protected his own patch. He predicted that Mr Martin had a freer and more inclusive style.
“I am confident that Mr Martin can rebuild trust with the public. People will respond to his honesty and transparency. Unfortunately we don’t have money at the moment and everyone has to suffer but I think if people stick with us we will be led to a better future with Micheal Martin.”
And although Mr Martin has the loyal support of Deputy McGuinness he is still not expecting to be offered the position of Deputy Leader.
“I didn’t contest the leadership as I thought there were already enough names going forward. So I don’t expect to be offered a deputy leadership position — that position will most likely be chosen from the other contestants and it will also be looked at geographically — Deputy Martin is from Cork so maybe the position might go to a Leinster candidate,” he mused.
Deputy McGuinness added that he was very confident that Fianna Fail could pick itself up under the leadership of Micheal Martin.
“Over the years since I was elected in 1997, he has led key ministerial roles. He was minister for education and health and he was my senior minister when I was junior minister at the department of trade and enterprise. He has been good for Kilkenny in the past, in that there are more plaques on the wall at St Luke’s Hospital with his name on them, there are schools that have been given IT grants and schools that have been built. During my time under his stewardship, Enterprise Ireland invested some €16 million in Kilkenny so he is committed to this constituency.”
Deputy McGuinness is convinced that under the leadership of Micheal Martin, politics in this country will get back to basics.
“He will be putting the needs of people first and he will be restoring the values of politicians of Lemass and it’s because of this history that I support him.”
