Micheál Martin has said he plans to be Taoiseach again one day.

The Fianna Fáil leader was speaking on The Anton Savage Show ahead of day two of the party's Ard Fheis in Dublin.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is due to take over the position soon, as agreed by the coalition government.

When asked on air if he will return as Taoiseach in future, Martin said: "Yes, that is my intention."

The party's popularity has gone down in the polls, but the Taoiseach rejects the idea that there has been a clear split in Irish politics.

"I actually believe in the idea of choice between centre ground parties", he said.

"In many ways Fianna Fáil was a rejection that there has to be a left versus right."

Housing crisis

The Taoiseach conceded that housing is "the biggest issue facing the country", but is satisfied with his government's work so far.

COVID-19 and "nimbyism" have been the biggest inhibitors to building more housing, according to him.

"COVID hit us hard with the two lockdowns in terms of construction, but we will get to 25,000 houses this year - but that's not enough", he said.

"I am satisfied that we are building more houses and we will build more houses."

He warns that the crisis is "too severe" to keep objecting to housing developments "the length and breadth of the country".

Cement levy

A Defective Concrete Products Levy was announced in Budget 2023 to help cover the Mica redress scheme.

The levy is expected to raise €80 million per year, and will be applied at a rate of 10% from April 2023.

However there are concerns the levy will be passed on to consumers, adding to the cost of home building.

"With the best of regulation, one gets bad behaviour"

"We don't believe it all has to be absorbed by the consumer, and secondly we will look at the finance bill in terms of how we can make sure it doesn't have that excessive impact that some are saying it will have", the Taoiseach said.

"I do think it's a prudent thing to say to people that every time we talk about allocating billions, there has to be some degree of revenue coming to meet it."

He hopes the levy will "give a message" to the sector also that the supply of defective blocks cannot continue.

"But with the best of regulation, one gets bad behaviour", he added.

Corporation tax

Corporate tax collection has risen significantly in recent years, which partially contributed to the surplus government had to play with in Budget 2023.

However, the Taoiseach says he is taking a "prudent approach" by putting funding into a reserve.

The budget was divided into two parts - a core budget and a cost of living package.

The corporation tax income "doesn't get embedded" into the structure of budgets long-term, he said

Listen back to the full conversation here.

Main image shows Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk