Enda Kenny: ‘I will not have any dealings with Michael Lowry’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has for the first time emphatically ruled out seeking the support of Independent Tipperary TD Michael Lowry for a future government.

“I will not have any dealings with Michael Lowry, or any other Independent,” the Taoiseach said. He added that any deal his party does with other parties or groups will be published.

"Any deal between Fine Gael and Labour or between Fine Gael and anyone else will of course be published. Accountable and transparent, fully."

The Taoiseach also said he will serve a full second term, but not a third.

Mr Kenny said the “the country is in better shape” than when Fine Gael took office in 2011.

However, Mr Kenny admitted not everyone is feeling the benefits of the economic recovery and added his party will “keep the recovery going”.

Mr Kenny was speaking on RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland on Friday.

"It's difficult to predict the future and we have built safeguards to protect the against major shocks," Mr Kenny said. He mentioned an economic slowdown in China and a possible British exit from the European Union as potential risks to the economy.

Rainy day fund

Fine Gael has said it will set aside €2.5 billion over the lifetime of the next government for a contingency and stability fund.

“We have factored in shocks like that,” he added of other threats such as an international “war on terrorism” and the European migration crisis.

Mr Kenny also said the State could potentially "suffer the worst of any" from a Brexit, and again stressed Ireland wants Britain to remain in the EU.

The transition from the Chinese economy from manufacturing to services is another risk, he added.

The Taoiseach said the electorate faces a choice to continue with “progress” or choose “to take a different route”.

“What do they want? Do they want to continue this progress?” Mr Kenny asked, while also acknowledging the recovery is “not felt behind every door”.

The deficit will be eliminated by 2018, he added.

“You should recall what I inherited here,” the Taoiseach said, claiming “serous progress” has been made on the economy.

He was asked about Fine Gael's policy of Universal Health Insurance, which has been effectively been shelved.

“We haven’t completed all we set to do in health. We have a lot more to do. We’re focussed now on universal health care. We have introduced fee GP care access to the under sixes and over 70s.”

The Taoiseach said negotiations are ongoing to extend that to children under 12 but said Minister for Health Leo Varadkar is right to be cautious about extending free GP care to the entire population.

“I think he is being very realistic in the sense of the report he has showing we need 2,000 extra doctors by 2025. The discussions that are on now to bring it into under 12s, we’ll move from that to under 18s when it is logical and pragmatic.”

Free GP care

When asked when free GP care for the entire population will be rolled out, Mr Kenny said: “We failed to deliver it in the lifetime of this government, we hope to deliver it in the lifetime of the next government.”

However, a Fine Gael spokesman later clarified that Mr Kenny meant the rollout of free GP care to under 18s will be completed in the lifetime of the next government, the same position as Mr Varadkar.

On the issue of abortion, Mr Kenny said “our society has changed completely” since the 1983 referendum on the eighth amendment to the constitution, which gives equal right to life to the mother and the unborn.

He said it would “glib” of him to commit to a referendum on repealing the eighth amendment without knowing what would replace it.

“A referendum on what? Do you know what we want to take out of the constitution, or put into it, or to amend it?”

He said “many brave women” have come forward with their stories of fatal foetal abnormalities and the trauma and hurt their experiences had caused.

“I want to depoliticise this first of all. So I am committed to setting up a citizens assembly within six months if returned to government.

“This is an issue where all the legal, medical, human stories need to be taken into consideration.”

"If we are to have a referendum, you can only have it on the basis of consensus emerging from that and that means citizens, it means Oireachtas committees."

The Taoiseach repeated that he would allow Fine Gael TDs a free vote on the issue.

His comments come as the scale of the electoral challenge facing the Coalition is revealed by the finding in the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll that 63 per cent of voters want to see a change of government.

Asked if they would like to see the Government re-elected or have a change in government, 63 per cent opted for a change, with 30 per cent saying they would like to see the Coalition re-elected.

There was a huge variation across the party spectrum, with 84 per cent of Fine Gael supporters wanting to see the Government re-elected but only 57 per cent of Labour voters wanting it to continue.

“It would be all to glib of me to come in here and say: ‘yes, we’ll have a referendum in 18 months’ time. A referendum on what? Do you know what we want to take out of the constitution, or put into it, or to amend it?

His comments come as the scale of the electoral challenge facing the Coalition is revealed by the finding in the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll that 63 per cent of voters want to see a change of government.

Asked if they would like to see the Government re-elected or have a change in government, 63 per cent opted for a change, with 30 per cent saying they would like to see the Coalition re-elected.

There was a huge variation across the party spectrum, with 84 per cent of Fine Gael supporters wanting to see the Government re-elected but only 57 per cent of Labour voters wanting it to continue.