Leo comes out swinging but Simon’s rural message shades it

LEO Varakdar came out swinging at last night’s Fine Gael leadership hustings with a stinging quip about rival Simon Coveney’s trailing campaign.

“When you arrived a little bit late I was a bit worried you were pulling out,” Mr Varadkar said to the Housing Minister.

Mr Coveney said “my response to that is – you wish.”

He had to go on the offensive after Thursday night’s debate in Dublin where many believed Mr Coveney had the edge.

And he certainly got a great welcome with a large round of applause in Carlow where both TDs in the local constituency, Pat Deering and John Paul Phelan, are supporters.

His opening gambit to have a swipe at Mr Coveney’s position in the race came after the first hustings where Mr Coveney didn’t hold back in criticisms of Mr Varadkar and injected his contributions with a sense of humour that surprised many.

While Mr Coveney is widely seen to have won the Dublin debate last night’s face-off was a closer affair.

However, there was a sense that Mr Coveney was more comfortable with the rural audience.

Mr Varadkar made the odd clunky remark like when he said he was “conscious” he wasn’t in Dublin adding: “So I want to say something about the regions and rural Ireland.”

Mr Coveney was able to point to his time as agriculture minister and there’s no doubt his ambition to “rebalance” Ireland goes down well outside the capital.

Both men spoke of the need for unity after the contest, a message that went down well with the party faithful.

Mr Varadkar holds a considerable lead among members of the parliamentary party, including many of his rural colleagues. Mr Coveney may have had a slim victory in last night’s clash.

But it’s still highly unlikely he can claw back Mr Varadkar’s lead among ministers, TDs and Senators – the group that has the greatest clout in next week’s vote to decide on Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s successor.