Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar on Sunday night said he would ensure Fine Gael remained compassionate to the needs of the less fortunate in society if he became party leader.
Mr Varadkar and leadership rival Minister for Housing Simon Coveney were speaking at the fourth and final hustings meeting in Cork attended by more than 800 Fine Gael members ahead of voting beginning on Monday.
He rejected suggestions that he would move Fine Gael to the right if elected leader of the party.
Mr Varadkar said he had heard Mr Coveney talk about the need for compassion and he agreed with much of what he had to say about it.
However, he could and would not agree with what Mr Coveney had said about him and compassion. He pledged that under his leadership there would be no repeat of the crisis that happened over discretionary medical cards being removed from sick children.
He pointed to his time in health where he sat down with then minister of state Kathleen Lynch and developed a plan to extend discretionary medical cards to many more people with the numbers qualifying for such cards doubling.
He said that Fine Gael had enough enemies in other parties and many on the left as well as many commentators in the media who accused the party of being uncaring, without its own members making similar accusations about each other.
“In my view, it’s divisive and it’s dishonest and it’s not a good way to seek a mandate,” said Mr Varadkar who went on to point out that there was difference between the role of government and political philosophy.
Mr Coveney said the Government under Enda Kenny had performed well in rebuilding an economy after the crash but what was needed now was a commitment to rebuild a society and he believed that was what distinguished him from Mr Varadkar.
Mr Varadkar may have focused on those who get up early in the morning but under his leadership Fine Gael would be concerned not just with the man who was creating 1,000 jobs but also the teenager who was sleeping rough on Grafton Street, said Mr Coveney.
He said that he was inspired by the “Just Society” document of the 1960s which recognised the party’s social responsibilities and it was no coincidence that it was under Garrett Fitzgerald drawing on such principles that Fine Gael enjoyed its greatest success prior to Mr Kenny’s governments.
“The focus to the shift to the right where we would focus on traditional core voters is very different to the vision I have for the party – the vision I have for us as a party is building a just society – whether city or country, council house or mansion, you all matter to us,” he said.
Mr Coveney pointed to his experience in Europe leading negotiations on behalf of the State on agriculture and fisheries. He also said he wad been patient enough to negotiate the confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fáil which was critical to the formation of the minority Government.
