Kenny’s going no where in a hurry
Stepping down is not Taoiseach’s top priority
THE Taoiseach has hinted again that he could stay on as leader of the country for the immediate future.
Speaking in New York yesterday, Enda Kenny said the Northern Ireland Executive had to be put in place within three weeks – and that this was his ‘first priority’, with Brexit matters also high on his agenda.
The Fine Gael leader also defended asking President Donald Trump to visit Ireland, saying it’s ‘normal courtesy’ to return an invitation.
Referring to his own leadership, Mr Kenny declared: ‘What I did say to my own party was that I would deal with this matter effectively and conclusively, and that’s my intention.’
However, he went on: ‘I think these are priorities that take precedence over anything else. You can’t have a situation where we have no leadership in Northern Ireland and where we have to define from a European Union point of view where Ireland would be.’
Mr Kenny was speaking after marching in the New York St Patrick’s Day parade, at the conclusion of his week-long US visit.
He had told RTÉ’s Bryan Dobson 24 hours earlier that he still had the triggering of Article 50 – which starts the Brexit process – to deal with. His comments raised the possibility of him extending his term as Taoiseach that would likely enrage his successor hopefuls Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney.
‘What I have always said is that I have to deal with a number of priorities here; the first priority is to put in place an executive in Northern Ireland,’ Mr Kenny said at the parade. ‘We have no government, no devolved authority in Northern Ireland now.’ He added: ‘I hope that the parties who are elected will accept the responsibility of putting together an executive within the three-week period. This is fundamentally important in respect of the Brexit negotiations that are about to commence.’
Asked when he was going to deal with his departure, he simply said: ‘I’m not going to answer that for you. I’ll deal with my own parliamentary party; I spoke to them before I came to New York, I’m telling you now: I’ve a number of immediate priorities on my desk when I return back tomorrow morning at 10am. I intend to start work on those.’
The Taoiseach also defended inviting Mr Trump to Ireland, after weeks of saying he was unsure whether he would make the offer. However, Mr Kenny unwittingly disclosed it had been his intention to do so since early last November – when he spoke on the telephone with the then president-elect.
Mr Kenny was invited to come to the White House in March as usual in that phone call. He said yesterday: ‘It’s normal courtesy in our country that if you receive an invitation from somebody, you return that invitation at another time.’
His comments indicate that he had in mind a presidential visit to Ireland by Mr Trump immediately after the continuation of Irish St Patrick’s Day access to the White House was confirmed last year.
Mr Kenny was also asked yesterday if he would now say Mr Trump was his friend, after the US President said the Taoiseach and his wife Fionnuala Kenny were both now his great friends. He was also asked what he would say to people at home unhappy at the prospect of a visit by the US leader.
He responded: ‘Well, I would say Donald Trump is the democratically elected President of the United States... I said to the President that I’d be very happy to invite him during the course of his presidency to Ireland.
‘After all, Irish firms do employ over 100,000 people in America, and twice as many vice versa.’
‘Very happy to invite President’