Fine Gael leadership contender, Simon Coveney insisted on Monday he could still win the race to succeed Enda Kenny. The Minister for Housing also predicted that sufficient members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party would vote for him to enable him to defeat Leo Varadkar, who currently has more support.
“Yes, I think we can still win it. Our team is very bullish – you and I spoke last week and at that point, I believed I could win this but it was a small group of people around me who believed that I could – now I think that group is a much bigger group and it has a growing membership.
"And I believe by the time that Friday comes around , many members will have voted so when our Oireachtas colleagues vote, I think many will see that their membership in their own constituencies will have voted for Simon Coveney and not Leo Varadkar and I hope they take note of that."
Mr Coveney acknowledged that some 46 members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party had publicly declared for Mr Varadkar to date but said he believed some would switch to voting for him following the four hustings debates which concluded in Cork on Sunday night.
He said that people were never going to switch publicly and if six or more Oireachtas members who had declared for Mr Varadkar were to vote instead for him, they will do so in the privacy of the ballot box.
Betterment of the country
“Yes, there have been 46 Oireachtas colleagues who have declared for Leo but that was before we had the hustings and these intense internal debates within the party about the future of the party and who is best to lead it forward,” said Mr Coveney.
“I’am not asking anyone to publicly state that they are changing their mind and voting for me – I am simply asking people to vote in the privacy of the ballot box in a way that they think, first of all, is for the betterment of the country and also makes good sense for the party.”
Speaking in Carrigaline after the final hustings debate, Mr Coveney strongly rejected a suggestion by Mr Varadkar during the debate that he was being divisive and dishonest in implying Mr Varadkar lacked compassion for the weaker in society.
“Well I am neither [divisive nor dishonest] – people who know me know I am a straight shooter but I am a competitive person as is Leo, so what you saw last night was both candidates in the final debate having a straight shoot-out in terms of ideas ,” he said.
“What I want is a Fine Gael that is passionate about building a stronger, fairer society as well as enforcing the point that Fine Gael is the only party that can be trusted with the economy – obviously we are pro-business, pro-enterprise and we encourage people to take risks and build business.
“But we are also a party that is compassionate and wants to support people left behind in recession and need the State’s intervention to help them make a positive contribution to society – I am very passionate about that message and I think that got a sharp response from Leo last night.”
Asked if he would be happy to serve under Mr Varadkar in Cabinet if he lost the leadership contest and if he had a preference for a particular ministry in such a scenario, Mr Coveney said that his focus over the past fortnight had been solely on winning the leadership contest.
"I haven't even been thinking about ministries – personal positions in government post this contest is something I haven't even thought about," said Mr Coveney who was travelling to Limerick to canvass party members on Monday night.
