With the end of the year nearly upon us, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin spoke to Pat Kenny about the biggest political events over the last twelve months.

Focusing on the bigger events like resignations, reshuffling, discretionary medical cards, the first post-austerity budget and water meters, Martin discussed where the future of the Fianna Fáil party lies.

However, he dismissed the possibility of going into coalition with Fine Gael, who he claimed are too "right-wing" and also Sinn Féin.

The Fianna Fail leader claimed during the interview that the IRA is calling the shots for Sinn Fein in the republic, saying he believes Sinn Féin is feeling the influence of the IRA, and that's evident in their policies here: "I think it calls the shots for the party in the Republic. We're beginning to see that play out both in terms of Northern politics and in terms of politics in the Republic.

"All of the issues around welfare reform in the North now I think is partly because of the sense that the party doesn't want that thrown at them in the Republic in terms of the day to day politics of the Republic."

He also stated that there may be a general election sooner than 2016: "I get a sense from the government that it's talking in an electoral mode. There are signs that they are giving themselves options."

Here is his views on the Northern situation in full:

Gerry Adams responded to the allegations and stated that Micheal was preparing to be Taoiseach: