Enda Kenny should not set a departure date, says Varadkar

Taoiseach Enda Kenny should not leave office quickly and should not set a date for his departure, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said.

“The new Government has just been formed, we’ve only just got started. There’s a huge number of people in new ministries; people who have changed ministries, new TDs and Senators and Independents in Government for the first time,” he said.

"The major strategy the party should be concerned about is providing good government, that's the best thing that Fine Gael can do for Fine Gael, build public confidence. Hold on to support that we now have, build from that," he said.

Recently, Mr Kenny indicated that he intended to serve a full term in office, though many in Fine Gael privately believe that he will step down in the next year.

However, Mr Varadkar disagreed with those demanding a departure date, "because once a politician does that you're a lame duck, that happened to Tony Blair and to Bertie Ahern. "

Mr Varadkar said that he is more interested in settling into his new brief than in contesting the leadership of Fine Gael

Health portfolio

Speaking to Newstalk, Mr Varadkar said he would have preferred the health portfolio in the new Government and expressed regret about not seeing some of his initiatives through to fruition while serving as health minister.

“Obviously I would have liked to see those kind of things (health initiatives) through. I would have abandoned universal health care quicker if I could have.

“Having studied it, I just didn’t think compulsory competing private insurance was the model to go for.

"What would suit Ireland better would be a model akin to other European countries, which would be based on tax or social insurance.

“We could have been talking about the models for another five years. What I wanted to actually get done was to make a reality of it, and the free GP care for under sixes and over seventies was part of that.

"There will be future steps, and I know Minister Harris is working on the next phase which is the 6-12 group which is very important, not just from a health point of view but also from the point of view of working families."

“Making a difference

Mr Varadkar also said that politicians can make a difference and that many of the projects he initiated are now coming to pass.

“You can get a lot done in a Cabinet ministry. After four or five years I’m starting to see results of things I either got started, or put a real political push behind, like linking the Luases, or “The Gathering” really getting tourism going again, separating Shannon airport. Even starting the Rugby World cup Bid, building the sports campus.

“It’s great to see that even if you can’t get everything done in politics you can make a difference. In health for me, it was starting the free GP care, getting the funding and permission for the Children’s Hospital, the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill.”

Mr Varadkar said he is keen to settle into his new brief, “to get people off welfare and into work.”

Pensions

On the issue of pensions, he says he wants to make it his own.

“What we need to do is protect the State pension, and make sure it continues to rise with the cost of living so that people will always have a certain income, and be able to avoid poverty. Essentially that’s what the State pension does, it keeps our pensioners out of poverty.”

He said he is favour of a system where people are automatically enrolled in a pension scheme unless they wilfully decide to opt out. “I think that’s where I’d like us to go.”

He also said he would like to see Ireland introduce a universal savings scheme similar to the model in New Zealand called 'Kiwi Saver'.

“People pay in and their employer pays in as well and the government gives them a top up, a little bit like the SSIA.

“At various times in your life you can dip into it; buying a house, getting married. I want to build a social consensus around that involving employers and unions. Get the public buy into it.”

He hopes to pay the Christmas bonus at the same rate that was paid last year, which was extra 75 per cent of the weekly payment.

“That isn’t signed and sealed yet, the money isn’t in the estimate, I will have to get Cabinet approval. But no one has come out against it yet.”

Minority Government

When asked if he felt Fine Gael were hostages to Fianna Fáil, he said no.

“But it is a new scenario. We are a minority Government, there have been minority governments in the past, but this is a different type.

“ We’re very much in the minority, we’re only about a third of the Dáil and that does require us to do things differently.

“It means we can do less than we would like to do. On the plus side it does mean building consensus around things rather than ramming it through with a big majority.”

"That will mean working with Fianna Fáil which I am willing to do and in fairness to them they have been very supportive of the new deal for the self employed. That's an area where I can work quite closely with Willie O'Dea and John Curran. "