Leader? Me? Not in the near future
Leo: Enda has no need to look over his shoulder
LEO Varadkar has assured Enda Kenny that he does not need to ‘look over his shoulder’ as he attempts to be reelected Taoiseach and form a Government.
The Health Minister yesterday said that Mr Kenny’s ‘key lieutenants’ are fully behind him and not plotting what would be another leadership heave against him.
But his comments did appear to leave the door open to change if Mr Kenny is not elected Taioseach and is unable to form a government.
And asked whether Fine Gael colleagues were saying he might be called on ‘in the near future’, Mr Varadkar merely replied: ‘Certainly not in the near future.’
His comments came during an i nterview on Today with Seán O’Rourke on RTÉ Radio 1 in which he defended the Taoiseach despite Fine Gael’s loss of 26 seats in the General Election.
Mr Varadkar said: ‘We are very clear that Enda Kenny is our candidate for taoiseach. We are supporting him fully in his efforts to put together a coalition and in order to do that. He needs to know that he does have to look over his shoulder, he does not need to be concerned. He has full support, and our party is fully united behind him.’
When asked by O’Rourke if he believed his own time as leader was ‘soon at hand’, Mr Varadkar said: ‘I don’t believe so, but I really mean what I said earlier, Enda Kenny is our nominee for taoiseach.
‘We have given him a mandate to try and put together a government, and in doing so he needs to know that his key lieutenants, his key ministers, the ministers who he raised up and appointed to cabinet are fully behind him and we are.’
Asked if any of his colleagues had yet told him it might be time for him to take up the mantle of leadership, he said: ‘Well, any conversations I have with my colleagues are private so I am not going to be discussing them.
‘The general view from people I have spoken to privately, the vast majority of people, even people who would have fallen out with Enda Kenny in the past, or been passed over for ministerial appointment by him in the past, the overwhelming view is that the election was a defeat but not a rout. We are the biggest party and Enda Kenny deserves our full support in trying to form a government and there is no way he can do that if he feels he can’t trust the people behind him.’
When asked if any of his colleagues had told him he would be needed as leader in the near future he said: ‘Certainly not in the near future. I am not going to get into that.’
Mr Varadkar’s comments came as the prospects of another frontrunner in the party, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, appeared to be severely dented following his comments on RTÉ’s Prime Time in which he suggested that water charges were up for discussion in coalition negotiations.
The remark was seen as unnecessarily reopening a contentious issue and encouraging the belief that charges could be scrapped.
Mr Coveney apologised to fellow FG TDs during a six-hour parliamentary party meeting on Thursday for any difficulties that he caused them and the party over the comments.
One TD who was present said that one minister stood up after his apology and spoke of how it was impor- tant that ‘ we do not conduct our negotiations via the media, because once it is out there, it can not be taken back and cannot be used as a hand to play during the negotiations for government’.
Another TD said: ‘ After Simon’s apology, and after the meeting, it seemed there was a consensus growing among some of the members that that’s it, Coveney has blown his chances, he has lost his shot at the leadership.
‘Coveney has blown his chances’
‘Because it would be different if one of our newer TDs said it, someone who wasn’t very experienced, but he has been around a long time.’
The issue of Mr Kenny’s continued leadership of Fine Gael has come into focus since the disappointing general election result, with annoyance on many TDs’ and ordinary party members could lose so many seats despite presiding over a vastly improved economy.
A number of TDs who lost their seats have said Mr Kenny has ‘serious questions to answer’ about the poor performance of Fine Gael in the election – and suggested the taoiseach bears ultimate responsibility for Fine Gael’s failings at the polls.
Former justice minister Alan Shatter, who lost his seat in Dublin South last week, was scathing in his criticisms of Mr Kenny’s personally appointed backroom staff.
Mr Shatter said: ‘I’m now outside looking in and I don’t want to be firing spears at individuals, but clearly the Taoiseach has serious questions to ask himself and to answer and to the manner in which the campaign is conducted.’