Enda plays the 18th while EU crumbles

Ireland has a mountain to climb now, and Kenny is playing golf – it’s not been a good start

MINISTERS are worried about a perceived ‘lack of urgency’ on the part of the Taoiseach over Brexit and that his weak position in a minority government will have a damaging effect on Ireland’s negotiation position with europe on the issue.

Ireland must negotiate with Brussels to establish its new position on a post-Brexit Britain. But there is, as yet, no official explanation as to why a Cabinet meeting to discuss Brexit on Friday was delayed for two and a half hours.

There was also a sense of anger among a number of Ministers and TDs who spoke to the Irish Mail on Sunday last night that Mr Kenny had spent Thursday afternoon playing golf in Castlebar with outgoing US Vice-President Joe Biden. While the Scottish Cabinet met yesterday morning and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a press conference, Mr Kenny continued to entertain Mr Biden.The Taoiseach is due to have lunch with Mr Biden again

‘How can he negotiate this without the numbers’

at Farmleigh today. Although officials had prepared detailed documents for Cabinet, Ministers and TDs said the delay of the crucial Cabinet meeting and Mr Kenny’s lack of urgency since – have not been a good start for the Government’s post-Brexit strategy.

‘It would have been important for the Taoiseach to be out early, to calm people and financial markets on Friday morning. Instead, we did not get a statement until after noon,’ said one Minister. ‘A good, impressive speech at that point is important.’

‘Kenny made a big thing about going over to campaign. The whole thing is going to collapse, you could have two elections, one in england and one in Ireland in the next six months,’ a Minister said.

But when asked about the Cabinet meeting delay, Government Press Secretary Feargal Purcell said: ‘No, that’s what suited people. That was thought to be the appropriate time.’

Regarding the Taoiseach’s decision to go golfing on Thursday with US vice-president, Joe Biden, he said: ‘Which was polling day. Which is not a day that you can campaign or do anything in particular. And you’re fulfilling an invitation that was given five years earlier and is finally happening before the man leaves office. There couldn’t be a more appropriate day to do it.’

‘Two politicians that are extremely close, and who have worked together fighting for the interests for the Irish in America,’ he added.

‘An Taoiseach came back to Dublin after the golf and watched the coverage in his apartment, almost all of it. And was watching it live in Dublin when it was declared.

‘You’ll notice a Government statement came out at 6.30 that morning, that was following consultation with the Taoiseach,’ he added.

Meanwhile, there is a belief within Fine Gael that the Government was not prepared for the leave result. People didn’t really consider the consequences – a bit like Britain themselves. It was a bit like the general election when we thought people would see sense,’ said a Minister.

‘There should have been a statement that morning, at 2am, as things were going wrong.

‘It will destabilise us,’ he said. ‘How does a government negotiate for Ireland that isn’t really a government, it doesn’t have the numbers. The Cabinet meeting was delayed, the usual suspects were probably afraid to say anything because they might have caused instability,’ said a TD.

‘And Kenny wouldn’t have said anything until he had spoken to his advisers. ‘There was a silence.’

Ministers and TDs spoke yesterday of their shock at the result – though sources in Westminster briefed the Mail on Thursday afternoon that the British government was preparing for Brexit. ‘The reaction is shock. In one way nobody should be shocked,’ said a Cabinet Minister last night.

‘At one point, leave was a racing certainty. But then the polls moved back towards Remain, the bookies moved back to Remain, the markets predicted Remain. People were thinking here and in Britain that this would be like the Scottish referendum.

‘The preparations were made at official level. Since 2013 – and it really revved up in 2014 – very senior officials at every level have been working and preparing.

‘The key thing to watch here is how the Irish Government, the Tao- iseach negotiates this Brexit with europe. This is a massively, massively important negotiation for Ireland.

‘This Brexit has the potential to affect every government department,’ said a Minister. ‘There are a lot of challenges to overcome and we can’t see what they are or how to overcome them for years. Cameron made it clear that he is not going to invoke Article 50, his predecessor won’t be in place until October. And the two-year negotiation doesn’t start until then.’

There is also unhappiness in the Irish Government at the strident stance being assumed by the eU. ‘I love europe, but if you look at Tusk’s statement and Juncker’s statement – talk about the elites of europe... There was surprise at journalists applauding at a press conference,’ said one Minister.

A Fine Gael source, who is considered supportive of Kenny, said the fraught situation may in fact bolster Kenny’s position.

‘My private view, but in a weird sort of way [is] if Kenny starts these negotiations, it will be very hard to change him mid-stream,’ he said. ‘let’s say September, October comes and we start a negotiation process and that process goes on for 18 months.

‘You can’t have a justification for an internal party rival to take him out. Micheál Martin said he won’t play politics with this. How can Micheál pull down a government on this? We need a period of calm and stability.’