Owen tells Kenny plotters to stop

FORMER Fine Gael justice minister Nora Owen has called for anyone plotting to overthrow Enda Kenny to back down for the sake of the party.

She said the process of removing and replacing a leader was a prolonged one and not the type of endeavour Fine Gael needed as it prepared for an election.

“That is not some distraction we need now,” she said. Ms Owen said it was difficult to sell an opposition leader at this time, but it would get clearer the closer it got to an election.

She was speaking on RTÉ after fresh reports of anxiety in the Fine Gael backbenches after three polls confirmed surges in support for the Labour Party, although no survey agreed on the actual state of opinion.

A Fine Gael spokeswoman said rumours of renewed strife were speculative and at odds with numerous comments from senior spokespeople.

But Ms Owen’s comments came as tensions between the two main opposition parties, and erstwhile electoral allies, worsened.

With the Labour Party cementing its position as the most popular grouping in the Dáil, Fine Gael conceded it was losing support from its critical urban middle class base.

Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar said he believed Labour’s tax policy would hurt the middle class voters, but this was a section of society where it was gaining the most ground.

However, Roisín Shortall of Labour said while the policies were being debated the current polls also reflected the trust the public had in her party’s leader, Eamon Gilmore.

She said reliable decision making, rather than specific policy platforms, were winning new followers for the party.

The parties will be expected to combine again in a more concerted attack on the Government with Fine Gael proposing a private members’ motion in protest at the cutbacks in the health service.

This will be debated in the Dáil this week.