Kenny vows to lead Fine Gael from the front

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny said he accepted some people did not like him but he was going to “speak out from my heart” and lead his party from the front.

He said he loved the ambition of Fine Gael TDs, saying that despite the party being in Opposition there were "about 12 leaders . . . and about 40 ministers" in the party. "The old song in County Mayo is Don't Show the White Feather. This party has never been more united. Of course there are people who don't like Enda Kenny. I understand that. This is politics," he told RTÉ Radio One's News at Oneprogramme.

Mr Kenny said Mr Lee had been offered “brilliant opportunities” in the party and that his departure had been damaging to politics.

However, Fine Gael had come through “a hell of a lot worse”, he insisted. “What I’m going to do now is be myself and I’m going to speak out from my heart on the issues that I believe Ireland needs for change.”

Asked about Mr Lee’s relationship with Fine Gael finance spokesman and deputy leader Richard Bruton, Mr Kenny said whether or not people had personal differences was immaterial in any party.

“I don’t want a message going out that people from outside politics cannot come in and play their part. They can, in full.”

The Fine Gael leader said Mr Lee had come from a “relatively comfortable” position in RTÉ to the “rawness of the streets” of politics. The party’s front bench had given unanimous support “for where we’re headed”, he said.

Mr Kenny said the first he heard of Mr Lee’s disillusionment and unhappiness was on Tuesday of last week, when the former Dublin South deputy first said he intended to resign. At no time since his election in June had Mr Lee said anything to that effect.

Mr Kenny said he reminded Mr Lee that he had told him in June that he would “come down off an emotional Everest into a trough”, as all byelection candidates do, and he would be there to help.

Mr Lee had been given a unique position in the party, Mr Kenny insisted. A specific economics committee was created for him and it had the opportunity to meet every Tuesday.

Mr Kenny denied he had offered Mr Lee a frontbench position as spokesman on economic planning under duress, as Mr Lee claimed. Accepting the position would have given Mr Lee “a different flavour of Opposition politics”.

Opposition was about articulating proposals for change, he said, and Mr Lee was “the ultimate communicator” in that regard. The Fine Gael leader said he was saddened and sorry “that it hadn’t worked out for George”.

He insisted he had made it quite clear Mr Lee was a “serious contender” for ministerial office, adding that everybody knew that was the case. He had also made it clear to Mr Lee that he would not be shifting Mr Bruton. “I held out brilliant opportunities for George Lee coming into politics.”

Explaining how he found out about Mr Lee’s resignation on Monday, Mr Kenny said Mr Lee told him he had given a letter of resignation to the clerk of the Dáil and the media had been notified.

People were either suited to politics or they were not, he said.

Mr Kenny said the way business was done in the Dáil needed to change. But this could only be done if Fine Gael was in government.

Monday had been a sad day for Fine Gael and for Mr Lee, but he could not “handcuff” a deputy to him.