Kenny plans all-out campaign in ‘make-or-break’ local elections
Mr Kenny said yesterday that the party would mount an all-out General Election-style campaign.
The party has allocated a "substantial budget" to the high-profile effort in an attempt to regain lost ground after last year's dismal election showing. The party leader didn't rule out that it may cost up to €1 million.
The elections are already being portrayed as critical for Fine Gael and for Mr Kenny's long-term leadership. Fine Gael's dismal General Election showing of 23% has left the party with only 31 TDs and a poor election result would also raise questions about the authority of Mr Kenny's position.
The decrease in its Oireachtas representation has meant the party has lost €750,000 of State funding. However, Mr Kenny maintained yesterday that Fine Gael's finances were in good shape.
He said the party hoped to raise €1.2m from its forthcoming national draw and had raised in the region of €100,000 from three golf classics this year.
Mr Kenny was outlining Fine Gael's strategy for the local and European elections at the end of its two-day parliamentary party meeting in Killarney.
He said the party would be concentrating much of its efforts on Dublin and 14 other urban centres where the party was under-represented.
Dublin presents a particular problem for Fine Gael. Its representation has been reduced to only three TDs Gay Mitchell, Richard Bruton and Olivia Mitchell and two Senators, Brian Hayes and Sheila Terry.
The party has recruited an operations director for the Dublin area to focus on rebuilding the organisation there.
The party will run 800 candidates, its highest ever number, and will hope to consolidate on its good performance in the last local elections.
"Every election is a judgement of the electorate on the politics of the day. In this case we will be asking people to make a verdict on the way the government have carried on," Mr Kenny told The Irish Examiner.
"In the election four years ago, Fine Gael did exceptionally well in a number of districts where we held three out of four seats. It will be very difficult to repeat that."
He added: "We are going to make every effort to build what we have and to win seats in areas where we lost out narrowly."
