Kenny rounds on former leader over FF support
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FINE Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday criticised former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald for telling party supporters to help out Fianna Fail MEP Eoin Ryan.
And Mr Kenny's troubles mounted last night after it emerged he has not always ruled out sharing power with Sinn Fein.
In the wake of his director of elections Frank Flannery saying Fine Gael could do business with Sinn Fein, Mr Kenny insists there is no question of his party sharing power with Sinn Fein.
But that's not what he said at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis two months ago, when asked if he would be willing to serve in coalition with Sinn Fein. "Sinn Fein have changed. I am not ruling anyone out at all," he told TG4 10 weeks ago.
Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said Mr Kenny needed to clarify his position
"The enormous change in his public utterances on this issue make a sham of the denial he is now making on the issue of Fine Gael coalition with Sinn Fein," he said.
Mr Flannery claimed Sinn Fein was now a "legitimate party" with whom Fine Gael could do business, but Mr Kenny distanced himself from the remarks. He said he had previously made it perfectly clear he would not be doing business with Sinn Fein.
Mr Kenny was also ice cold to the significant intervention by his predecessor, Dr FitzGerald, where the party grandee said voters should continue to cast their European election ballots in favour of pro-Lisbon parties.
Lisbon
Dr FitzGerald said when it came to later preferences, he believed voters should "stay within the fold of pro-Lisbon parties".
"If that means Fine Gael people, and Labour, voting for Eoin Ryan before [Joe] Higgins or [Mary Lou] McDonald, then that's the way it should be, I believe," he said on RTE's 'News At One'. But Mr Kenny responded by saying: "Garret FitzGerald is not a member of Fine Gael at the moment." He added: "He was a former Taoiseach and esteemed member of the party many years ago."
Dr FitzGerald's intervention is regarded as vital for Mr Ryan as he bids to win the fight for the last seat in Dublin against independent candidate Joe Higgins and sitting Sinn Fein MEP Mary Lou McDonald.
Former European Parliament President Pat Cox also called for voters to support pro-Lisbon candidates and specifically met with Mr Ryan.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen claimed nothing happens within Fine Gael without Mr Flannery's "say-so", but last weekend "we have his leader disowning him within 24 hours".
Stressing that Fianna Fail didn't see "a compatibility in our policy position with Sinn Fein", he added about the Opposition: "Presumably Mr Flannery is at such a digression from his party's position that presumably he'll be considering his position, I don't know."
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael leader also revealed he had told Mr Flannery to confine himself to his role as director of the party's local elections drive.
"I did speak to him -- I reminded Frank of his responsibilities," which did not extend to setting party policy, Mr Kenny said.
He said policy was a matter for him and his front bench and the current row over Sinn Fein transfers was a distraction.
Mr Kenny also appeared to play down the prospects of the party winning the Dublin Central by-election.
He disclosed party candidate Paschal Donohoe would need to increase his vote by 300pc in order to take the seat.
But he said Mr Donohoe was an "outstanding young man", adding: "I have every faith in him."
- Fionnan Sheahan, Senan Molony, and Conor Kane
