OUT AND ABOUT Joe Vaughan and John Dempsey greeting An Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the official opening of Balla Town Parks last week. Pic: Kathy Lyons.
Áine Ryan
IF Taoiseach Enda Kenny taught his Fine Gael party members anything last week it was that shouting your mouth off or being first out-of-the-traps can easily deflate into a damp squib when he flexes his political muscles. So, unsurprisingly, speculation back in his home patch of County Mayo about his successor, has been off-the-record with the names of his daughter Aoibhinn and his old friend, Senator Paddy Burke only being whispered in dark corridors. However, there is no reticence by party colleagues about his positive legacy of service to his home county.
It may have been a testing fortnight for the Father of the Dáil but after 42 years as a deputy and six as its chieftain, it was hardly surprising that Enda Kenny would leave his parliamentary party seeking their smelling salts in just eight minutes last Wednesday night. They should have seen it coming after the failed cappuccino coup of 2010 but, then, rumours of his demise have been the subject of headlines for, at least, a decade.
In the explosive aftermath of his ‘Mea Culpa’ admission about a conversation he never had with Minister Katharine Zappone about Sgt Maurice McCabe and a Tusla file, Kenny had remained shtum for a week as the media bayed for his blood. Ultimately, all the Taoiseach had to do to silence the 70 Fine Gael members of the Oireachtas and the European Parliament was say he would deal with the leadership issue ‘conclusively and effectively’ when he returned from his St Patrick’s Day engagements.
Whether Mr Kenny steps down as leader of Fine Gael in early April, perhaps after the first EU post-Brexit summit, remains a matter of speculation still but now seems more likely. He would then remain on as Taoiseach during the election process of some four weeks for a new leader, taking him beyond his 66th birthday and make him the longest-serving Fine Gael Taoiseach after John A Costello.
Local party support
THE Taoiseach’s old friend Senator Paddy Burke declined to confirm to The Mayo News last night if his name would be on a ticket if Enda retired from politics.
“Enda has said he was going to be around for a long time to come and he is still the Taoiseach. I believe there could be a lot of candidates interested in running for his seat if and when he retires,” Senator Burke said.
He cited the ongoing project of the N5, the Ballaghadereen bypass, which was a key priority for the many industrialists in Co Mayo, the redevelopment of the Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar and the county town’s new swimming pool as just some of the many developments Enda helped bring to the county.
Mr Burke also said the media ‘frenzy’ which engulfed Leinster House in the lead-up to Mr Kenny’s clarification about his future was ‘over-the-top’.
Responding to Mayo News questions, Fine Gael’s Cllr Jarlath Munnelly said: “I think it’s too early to speculate on Enda’s successor. We should wait and see what he says after St Patrick’s Day. I think the future of Fine Gael in Mayo is about more than one person.”
Speaking about his legacy in Mayo, he said ‘history will remember Enda as the Taoiseach who steered the country round at a very difficult time’.
“Increasing employment everywhere has to be part of his legacy. In Mayo, you can point to projects such as the Enterprise Ireland unit under construction in the Business Park in Castlebar – that will provide sustainable jobs in the town. In addition there are the developments at Lough Lannagh and the swimming pool. But right across Co Mayo people feel a bit more secure in their jobs as the economy is visibly improving,” Cllr Munnelly said.
Meanwhile, Westport-based Fine Gael Cllr Tereasa McGuire said that Enda had kept Mayo at the forefront of all national and international events.
“He, with his ministers and senators, has brought businessmen to the county to encourage investment. He has restored pride in all of us and has instilled a sense of self-belief the possibility that we can do it,” Cllr Tereasa McGuire.
