Enda Kenny’s fellow Fine Gael TDs in Mayo have rowed in fully behind the Castlebar man’s leadership of the party, however there remains some criticism nationally following a meeting of the parliamentary party on Wednesday.
Questions had been raised about Kenny’s leadership of the opposition after George Lee decided to walk away from the party and politics after less than a year as a TD. And while his local colleagues are strongly supporting him, on a national level there have been some criticisms of his leadership style by a minority of party members.
In a statement issued after the Fine Gael meeting, which ended after midnight on Wednesday, party chairman Tom Hayes said: “The meeting fully endorsed and supported the leadership of Enda Kenny.” On the issue of George Lee's resignation, he added: “The meeting wished him well in the future.”
According to national reports one TD said he was “getting it on the doors that Mr Kenny was not up to the job”, while others complained that backbenchers were being frozen out.
Frontbencher Simon Coveney also said prior to the meeting that there would be “obvious consequences” if Kenny did not improve his performance. Later he qualified his statement by adding “I stated the obvious, and the obvious is, if a political leader cannot meet the challenges and the aspirations of a party, well then the consequences are very predictable, but I think that Enda can meet those challenges.”
On Wednesday Kenny’s constituency colleagues Westport’s Michael Ring and Ballaghaderreen’s John O’Mahony both spoke of their support for the current party leader.
“There is no question that I’m behind Enda Kenny as the leader of the party,” The Westport based TD told the Mayo Advertiser. “To be fair to him he has done his best and the party have rowed in behind him in their full throated support and I’m there 100 per cent.”
Deputy Ring also said that he hopes that Lee does not regret his decision to walk away from politics. “I spoke to George Lee and worked with him on a number of occasions. I offered him any assistance I could and told him that my door was always open to him. But he made his decision and he has decided to leave politics, but in any job there is a settling in period, I just hope that he doesn’t come to regret this in the future.”
Dep O’Mahony, who like George Lee is only in his first term in the Dáil, was also in full support of Kenny’s leadership. “From a personal point of view one of the big reasons I am where I am today is because Enda Kenny approached me to run for the Dáil. The position that he has brought the party to, from when he took over in 2002, is unreproachable. He has seen over 20 extra Dáil seats, two very successful local and European elections, he has brought the party to a level that looked very unlikely eight years ago.”
Dep O’Mahony also spoke about how it takes time to settle into the role of a TD after you first get elected. “I know myself how hard it can be to adapt to the role of TD first off, you have to work hard for your constituents, there is a period of adjustment, it takes getting used to how things work. George Lee made a judgment for himself and it’s unfortunate for the party,” he added.
