Fine Gael stand by their man

FINE Gael may be outshining Fianna Fáil in opinion polls but the same political barometers show that the party’s leader, Enda Kenny, still isn’t cutting it with the public as a leader.

Despite this, his parliamentary party has remained loyal to him and as he visited the Clare constituency’s AGM in the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis, this week, Michael Creed, the party’s spokesperson on Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said the Mayo man would be Taoiseach yet. He also trotted out a few predictable clichés about the party not getting complacent despite the feedback from the polls.
“The people who continuously raise Enda Kenny’s leadership with me seem to be by and large members of the media. I don’t get it in the Fine Gael organisation and, as I see it, Enda Kenny is the democratically elected leader of the party, will lead Fine Gael into the next election and be Taoiseach after it.”
“I’m not saying that on the basis of opinion polls, I’m saying it on the basis of the solid work that Fine Gael is putting in across a range of portfolios under Enda Kenny’s leadership and we certainly won’t be complacent about opinion polls. There’s only one opinion poll that matters and that’s the one taking place on polling day in the next election.”
He believes the Government has failed to get to grips with the return of mass unemployment and doesn’t seem to have any real jobs strategy.
“We have 430,000 people unemployed, it’s a national emergency. We hear the Tánaiste talking about young people emigrating for fun, that’s not the reality I’m meeting. I meet parents of young people who are forced to emigrate because they have no work. I meet young people themselves who have lost their jobs and have mortgages and young families. I certainly don’t see any evidence that the Government has a strategy or a plan to deal with that.
“To me, that is the biggest issue; balancing the books is not an end in itself, it’s a means to an end. What we need is a strategy that will create jobs for people and that’s singularly absent from the Government from top to bottom. There is no jobs agenda there.”
The loss of George Lee didn’t hit Fine Gael in the next opinion poll and, while he acknowledged the RTÉ man’s departure wasn’t good news, he felt Lee wasn’t suited to the political arena.
“When George Lee joined Fine Gael and won a seat, it was a big fillip to the party. He’s a brand in his own right almost. It was very disappointing (Lee’s departure) and I wish him every success in what he does.
“I think George found that it was easier to critique other people’s endeavours than to work in the political system to bring about change. I think that’s unfortunate because I think we need people with ideas who will commit to the system. No-one’s going to change a system in eight months.”
Holding its two seats in Clare mightn’t be easy, Mr Creed claimed.
“The challenge historically has been for Fine Gael to get two and holding the two isn’t something we’re complacent about. We have two very good deputies in Pat Breen and Joe Carey.
“I’m not saying holding those seats is going to be an easy task, this is an area where Fianna Fáil is smarting at not having got three seats in the last general election and there will be challenges from independents. But we are committed to holding those two seats and with the TDs we have there is an excellent chance of doing that,” said Michael Creed.

Pilkington bows out as chairman
DICK Pilkington’s time as chairman of Fine Gael in Clare came to an end this week.
While secretary Seán Chambers said that moves had been made to remove Mr Pilkington from the top table, Mr Pilkington declined to comment.
However, he did say that Fine Gael had enjoyed some notable successes during his time.
“It was rewarding, although it could be quite trying when you’re trying to act as a broker between different people. Sometimes when you’re dealing with individuals, it can be like being a referee. On the plus side, we won two seats during my term, while Madeleine Taylor-Quinn was the first Fine Gael Mayor of Clare, while she has been followed by Tony Mulcahy. We also increased our representation on the county council and the town councils.”
He said that one thing that disappointed him was a lack of interaction between elected representatives and the party.
Mr Pilkington also said there are some issues in society that need to be tackled. “People were coming home and finding their furniture floating. That’s the fault of bad planning. The unemployment situation is very serious and so are the problems facing agriculture,” he said.