Date: Thursday 24^th June 2021: Taoiseach Micheál Martin has opened up about his working relationship with Tánaiste Leo Varadkar in a revealing interview to be broadcast tonight at 9pm on Virgin Media One.

 

In The big interview the Taoiseach says "we get on fine", while saying the relationship is important and compromises are made. He also defends calling Leo Varadkar the Taoiseach by mistake number of times, describing it as a "slip of the tongue".

During the hour-long interview with Claire Brock the Taoiseach defends the government's handling of the pandemic, but accepts overall messaging was challenging. He acknowledges that Health Minister Stephen Donnelly's "trampoline" interview on Virgin Media News wasn't his best performance.

 

On stepping down as Taoiseach as part of the coalition agreement he says "it will be difficult, but the trappings of office don't matter". He opens up about the impact of leaving the top job when the time comes. 

 

During the interview to mark the first year of his coalition government the Taoiseach also talks about reopening plans, his personal legacy and a range of other issues.

 

The Big Interview will air tonight on Virgin Media One at 9pm, followed by The Tonight Show which will analyse and debate the interview and the first year of the coalition. 

​​

Video clips are available to download here – https://we.tl/t-DCIgRgP5ZY