BRUTON CHALLENGE:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny asked Richard Bruton for a public declaration of confidence in his leadership at the weekend, but Mr Bruton felt unable to oblige, the former finance spokesman said yesterday.
As he arrived at RTÉ in Donnybrook yesterday evening, Mr Bruton said he believed Mr Kenny “had done a huge amount of work for the party”, but “the skills needed to bring us the rest of the way are ones that, despite his best efforts, he hasn’t been able to deliver”.
Mr Burton said events had unfolded last week with his not being consulted on the Dáil motion of no confidence in Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
“People in the party were critical of the way this was done”, he said. The criticism had been followed by The Irish Times poll “which crystalised for a lot of people that the effort that Enda had been making to rebuild his leadership successfully . . . weren’t working for him”.
Mr Bruton said that despite the “tremendous work” Mr Kenny had been putting in, a trend was there. The party leader was not convincing people “that Fine Gael was the party to manage their affairs to create a secure future for them”.
Asked if he believed any new leader would be faced with a divided party, Mr Bruton said he would not pretend that it would not be a difficult period.
Mr Bruton recalled he had “been there before with John”, a reference to the time when his brother, former taoiseach John Bruton, was deposed as party leader, but he said “these are things we will have to manage”.
He said politicians were used to separating their professional views and loyalty to the party from personal friendships, but he said he believed that personal friendships could be preserved.
Afterwards on the Six-One News, Mr Bruton appealed to his parliamentary party colleagues to put their loyalty to the Irish people above their loyalty to Mr Kenny and install him as their next party leader.
He reiterated his view that Mr Kenny had been unable to convince the public that he could manage the country’s economic problems and secure their future.
“There are many opinion polls and ratings of his leadership and many occasions on which he has faltered at crucial times – and we do need people’s confidence now,” he said.
He said the country faced an “unprecedented crisis” and difficult decisions had to be taken. He said it was critical now that people had confidence in their political leaders.
He said Mr Kenny no longer retained the confidence of the public and he would campaign against a Fine Gael motion of confidence in him on Thursday.
“There have been several instances where Enda Kenny’s leadership has been questioned before and he has indicated – ‘I am going to change the way I do things’; ‘I am going to redouble my efforts’ – and he has tried but it hasn’t been successful,” he said.
He said he believed a clear majority within the Fine Gael front bench and parliamentary party now wanted a change of leadership.
If his campaign was successful on Thursday, he would offer himself as an alternative leader. He felt he had the necessary experience in the economic sphere, which was required to lead the party. He also questioned Mr Kenny’s ability to manage economic matters.
“The issue is do we put loyalty to one another in a small political family first or do we put the wider country first,” said Mr Bruton.
He felt he had the necessary experience in the economic sphere, which was required to lead the party. He also questioned Mr Kenny’s ability to manage economic matters.
“People have been looking to see can Enda present a convincing case that he can manage the economic problems and he can secure people’s future and he has the capacity to reform and implement that reform,” Mr Bruton said. “I think he has been found wanting on that.”
He rejected the suggestion that he was splitting the party and letting Fianna Fáil off the hook ahead of an election.
“I don’t think the party is going to tear itself apart. I think the party is mature.
“I think it understands that a decision has to be made on this,” he said.
He had remained loyal to Mr Kenny for several years but that the Fine Gael leader “had come up short”. He said it was time to have a new leader.
He believed a majority of this morning’s front bench meeting would support a call for change, if one was made. However as he was no longer a member of the front bench, he would not be present, he said.