Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he lacked confidence when he was younger and “never had the wildest notion” he would be a politician.
Mr Martin, 60, said he found his early years in college “very difficult” and recalled his first political experience when he stood on a table and lost himself ranting during the hunger strikes in the North.
The Fianna Fáil leader said both his parents had an influence on his political career but he believed he would always be a history teacher.
He said: “I lacked confidence. I never thought I’d be a politician, never had the wildest notion I’d be a politician.
“I was very quiet in college for the first year.
“I found college a very difficult first year experience, I just felt back to your self confidence, you know, jesus there are a lot of smart-alecs arounds here, a lot of guys who know their way about the place and I kind of feel 'am I up to this?'
“I recall my first real political experience, about 500 students gathered from all sorts... it was a time when the hunger strikes were really on, deaths were happening, Margaret Thatcher was hated.
“I got up on a table.. and I just lose myself on top of the table and gave a rant and just gave it holly, you know.
“That was my real first political foray.
“And you get through your first year and all of your anxieties and all of that and then you open a bit and then I joined Fianna Fáil Cumann.”
Joking, Mr Martin said “it actually sounds very sad but we met at the Fianna Fail Cumann,” when speaking about meeting his wife, Mary.
He said he is lucky that Mary had previously worked in politics and understands the lifestyle it brings while Mr Martin is Taoiseach.
He said his wife would be the type who would be urging him to call people back and said he often wondered what it would have been like if Mary didn’t have “that insight into politics”.
Speaking to the Where Is My Mind podcast, he said: “I was just very, very lucky that I had a partner who understood this and knew the pitfalls of it as well and that has stood me in good stead.”
The Taosieach admitted he and his family have found the pandemic challenging stating Mary and his children were “brassed off” over the 5km travel rule and the lack of sports training.
He said: “I’d love to burst out some day and just meet a few people for a pint somewhere but we can’t.
“We underestimate people’s coping strategies and capacity in a situation like this because it is unprecedented.”
He said “you’ve to keep holding that out for yourself” as a way to look forward when restrictions allow for meeting up with more people.
