Coveney lashes old foe in first big event of leadership contest

SIMON Coveney’s first big speech of his leadership bid appears to have had the required effect on the party faithful here as he emerges as a favourite among the Kerry membership to succeed Enda Kenny as FG leader and Taoiseach.

Minister Coveney delivered what was widely considered an impressive speech at a benefit for the party in the Rose Hotel in Tralee on Friday night - in what was seen as the first big address of the leadership contest.

Up to 500 attended the event where they heard Coveney lash the old FG foe Fianna Fáil in the course of a bullish 20-minute address - as leaked to the Sunday Independent via a secret recording it published. He said he would ‘draw a line in the sand’ with Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin if elected Taoiseach, and warned it would be a line that Martin would cross at peril of an election.

Otherwise he set out a vision of an inclusive Fine Gael that would represent ‘everybody’: ‘Whether you are in social housing or a mansion, whether you are on a small, rough farm on a mountainside, or whether you are a big dairy farm growing and expanding, you have to be of interest to Fine Gael.”

Fine Gael County Councillor Jim Finucane, who this week declared his interest in running at the next general election, said he was pleased to hear such emphasis on social justice from the Housing Minister.

“I still believe there’s potential for a third candidate...regional matters would influence me and for that reason I will be supporting Simon Coveney,” Cllr Finucane said.

Finucane is seen as one of the most able councillors in grasping economic detail and pushing the agenda of business and industry. Social justice and jobs growth will be the main planks of his manifesto, along with his continued focus on securing Shannon LNG, he said.