FG hopefuls offer loads of noise

The likely lads...Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney at Aras an Uachtarain back when they received their seals of office.

placeholder image — The likely lads...Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney at Aras an Uachtarain back when they received their seals of office.

World of Politics with Harry McGee – [email protected]

Uno Duce. Una Voce. It was the late PJ Mara who coined the famous phrase about Charlie J Haughey after one of the many heaves against him. PJ’s quip – one leader, one voice – just borrowed the slogan of Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist leader from the 1930s.

Shoot forward to 2017 and officially Charlie’s old rivals in Fine Gael still have one leader. But the party has a plethora of voices, all talking about its future leadership.

The one voice that was absent on this issue was that of Uno Duce himself Enda Kenny until Wednesday evening when he set out his stall. And despite all the rebel-fuelled talk that he was going to fall on his sword immediately, the Taoiseach said he was going alright, but not just yet.

The departure date won’t really now be made clear until he comes home after St Patrick’s Day, and even now we are unsure of when exactly it will be. I presume he will still be there in late April, which will allow him to become Fine Gael’s longest ever serving leader, surpassing the record of John A Costello.

I also suspect that it will be Kenny who opens the negotiations for Ireland after Brexit has been triggered at the end of March.

Because of his silence we saw a proxy war being waged over the past few days between the two likely challengers to succeed him – Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney.

Most of the divisions revolved around timelines. Leo and his supporters were keen that Kenny walk the plank as soon as possible; Varadkar’s impatience was illustrated by an impromptu statement on Saturday night complaining that the ongoing uncertainty was “distracting and destabilising”.

Coveney has seemed to favour a less combative approach. He has let it known he will oppose any motion of no confidence.

“I don’t think people should be given the Taoiseach and party leader ultimatums and threats at a time when Fine Gael are in in Government and with the huge amount of challenges to deal with from the national perspective,” he said.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.