Kenny will 'show door' to errant ministers
In his leader's address to the party's National Convention in Millstreet, Co Cork, this weekend, Mr Kenny set the bar significantly higher for ministerial standards and accountability in government.
In a reference to the vast overruns associated with the payroll system for the health services, Mr Kenny said that should a similar fiasco emerge under his watch, ministerial heads would roll.
"I will not tolerate waste or incompetence in any FG government. No minister will run amok with the people's hard-earned money. Anyone responsible for the equivalent of PPARS will be shown the door," he said.
The Fine Gael leader's half-hour address to about 1,700 delegates closely followed the theme of the one-day conference - new faces, new ideas, in addition to honesty of approach.
He also introduced a line of attack that is likely to feature prominently in Fine Gael electoral strategy over the next 18 months - the assertion that voting for Fianna Fáil could also mean voting for Sinn Féin.
In a key line of his address he portrayed the choice facing the electorate in 2007 as a stark one between a Fine Gael-Labour Rainbow or "the old guard of FF and SF - those rip-off republicans".
Mr Kenny told delegates the party had recovered from the nadir of 2002 and, with a clear mood for change among the electorate, it would be Fine Gael leadership and honesty to which voters would turn.
Rejecting the coalition's argument that previous Fine Gael governments had been 'slump' coalitions, he characterised those governments as being the drivers of the Celtic Tiger. In so doing, he also gave a revisionist approval to the much-maligned Tallaght Strategy - the decision in 1987 by then party leader Alan Dukes to back the FF-PD economic recovery programme.
"The Tallaght Strategy, itself, proved our guiding principle - Ireland first. That was honest leadership. And through that courage, that honesty, the seeds of the Celtic Tiger were sown," he said.
Mr Kenny also referred to the new policy commitment unveiled by the party at the convention - no increase in personal, corporate or capital taxes; free medical care for children under five; substantial proposals on pre-school childcare; a national health screening programme; and the introduction of "tough legislation to make parents more responsible for the actions of their teenagers."
As expected, he also referred to one of his party's touchstones over the past two years - its Rip-Off Ireland campaign.
"Fine Gael wants to give Ireland a new team, with new ideas. We want to give Ireland a new government with new energy to solve our country's problems, to get our money working for people," he said.
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