THREE INTERNAL policy committees have been set up by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny in preparation for the next general election.
Dún Laoghaire TD Seán Barrett will head a candidate selection committee, Cork South-Central TD Simon Coveney chairs a policy committee and a communications committee will be led by Senator Frances Fitzgerald.
Newly-elected Dublin South TD and former RTÉ journalist George Lee has been given responsibility for a business and economic forum. It will report to the policy committee on ideas submitted by business groups and the public concerning ideas for job-creation and the economy.
The party’s chief economist, Andrew McDowell, has been promoted to head of research and will work with the new committees.
The various groups will be overseen by a steering committee chaired by Mr Kenny. Ultimate responsibility for policymaking will remain with the party’s front bench.
The candidate selection committee, led by Mr Barrett with TDs Phil Hogan and Michael D’Arcy, is to have a strong role in election planning at constituency level.
The establishment of the three committees came in the aftermath of a five-hour meeting of the parliamentary party at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel on June 30th to discuss the outcome of the local and European elections.
Senior Fine Gael sources said there was “a feeling within the parliamentary party that they were being left outside the consultation process” and that there was “a lack of connectivity” between the party administration and TDs and Senators.
This revolved around the issue of comments made by senior party official Frank Flannery shortly before the European elections which indicated a softening of Fine Gael’s traditional atttitude to coalition with Sinn Féin.
There was said to be “a lot of annoyance” and “a lot of disquiet” at Mr Flannery’s intervention which was seen as having damaged the party in electoral terms at a delicate stage.
“This was the last thing we needed,” said one front bench TD. Mr Flannery lost his position as director of elections afterwards but remains as director of organisation.
Party sources said the policy group led by Mr Coveney would have the task of writing the Fine Gael manifesto for the next general election.
Other TDs on this committee – which previously operated on an ad-hoc basis but has now been formally established – include frontbenchers Richard Bruton, Brian Hayes and Leo Varadkar.
The communications committee, with Senator Fitzgerald and TDs David Stanton and Damien English, is being established because of a feeling that the party’s policies in certain areas, such as health, need to be publicised more widely and on a more sustained basis, although this is not a reflection on health spokesman Dr James Reilly.
There is also a feeling that “slots” on key political discussion programmes need to be more widely distributed among members of the parliamentary party.
Senior party sources said a general election could take place as early as November, in the event that Fianna Fáil and the Greens fail to agree on the next budget. Otherwise, an election within the next 18 months is seen as a strong possibility.
There is said to be a strong feeling in the parliamentary party that, “just being an Opposition party isn’t enough, people want to know what Fine Gael has to offer”.
Commenting on the establishment of the new committees, one frontbench TD said: “It’s a bit like the old boy scout motto – be prepared!”
Mr Kenny’s move is described as a response to the views of TDs and Senators that they they should be “driving” policy rather than the party’s officials.