The A team of advisers who steer Kenny through troubled waters

THE Taoiseach is heavily reliant on his backroom team of advisers when making key decisions such as how to handle the damning Guerin Report. Here the Irish Mail on Sunday profiles the key men and women.

MARK KENNELLY

The key power broker in Enda Kenny’s backroom team. A native of Killarney, Mr Kennelly earns a salary of €168,000 a year for his trouble.

As a young man he went to Brussels to work as a researcher for Fine Gael at the European Parliament. When Michael Lowry became communications minister in June 1995 he was appointed his special adviser.

When Mr Lowry’s downfall came in 1996, Mr Kennelly became policy adviser to the party leader and front bench in 1997.

His influence on the Taoiseach has increased as that of others has declined. Political strategist Gerry Naughton resigned in 2007, poll guru Frank Flannery is gone and former communications director Ciarán Conlon was moved aside after the unsuccessful heave against Mr Kenny in 2010.

ANDREW MCDOWELL

The Dubliner is Fine Gael’s main economic guru and fills that role for the Taoiseach as a special adviser. But as the Government’s tenure has progressed he has increasingly become trusted by the Taoiseach for his advice on all political matters. Related to former PD Justice Minister Michael McDowell, he joined Fine Gael in 2006 from government economic thinktank Forfás before going on to advise the party’s finance spokesmen. Mr McDowell is a quiet, publicity-shy figure but earns an impressive €168,000 a year for his work.

FEARGAL PURCELL

The former army officer came to the Fine Gael press office shortly before the 2011 General Election. He was a surprise appointment to the prestigious role of Government Press Secretary with many feeling that the demise of previous Fine Gael communications director Ciarán Conlon was harsh. He has, however, become increasingly influential as he has found his feet and has become well able for many of the self-regarding journalists who inhabit the Dáil press lobby.

A Kilkenny man, he will discuss hurling with correspondents and has forged a good working relationship with Cathy Madden, the deputy Government press secretary, who represents Labour, but many feel his sometimes tough treatment of journalists owes a little too much to his former career in the military.

FIONNUALA KENNY

Though, of course, she does not have a formal role in Government, anyone with a knowledge of how Enda Kenny works will say that his wife Fionnuala is one of his most important advisers. While he spends most of his working week at his apartment off Merrion Square, Mrs Kenny, pictured, stays at home outside Castlebar with their children Aoibhinn (who now spends some of the week at college), Ferdia and Naoise. Mrs Kenny learned from the best when former head of Fianna Fáil press PJ Mara hired her as a senior press officer in the 1980s to work for Charlie Haughey. When Ireland’s presidency of the EU ended in 1990, she left her job as head of the Government Information Service to become boss of RTÉ public affairs. After a 10-year romance, Kenny, at the more mature age of 40, took her to the Aran Islands to pop the question and they married in 1992. Many attribute Kenny’s tough treatment of Fine Gael rebels to lessons Fionnuala learned while working with Haughey.