Taoiseach failing to connect with FG’s rural base

Fine Gael has gathered this weekend in Wexford for its second national conference in less than six months. Yet again, the national airwaves will be given over to listen to the offerings of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tonight.

But, unlike last time when he addressed the nation, Varadkar’s appeal is on the slide — as is his party’s. A dodgy budget plus a succession of scandals and mishandlings, typified by the National Children’s Hospital, has seen the halo of prudence and competence badly dented. Varadkar, himself, has acknowledged that things have begun to unravel.