Enda tucks in while leaders debate

WHILE many in the country were glued to a TV debate between potential leaders of the government, the one man who had refused to take part was enjoying a calm meal.

By the time the TV3 debate went out on television screens at 8pm last night, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had joined his advisers for the tasty evening dinner.

Was it Enda, Eamon or Michael for Taoiseach? No, it was beef, salmon or chicken on the menu at the Carrick-on-Shannon hotel before the town hall-style meeting.

Ahead of the Fine Gael leader’s worldwide address (it was streamed live online), Mr Kenny spoke to reporters defending his decision to miss the debate back in Dublin.

Both leaders in Labour and Fianna Fáil had denied Green Leader John Gormley the opportunity to instead join the TV debate, he claimed, adding:

“They can have a good chat about how they feel and about their plans. I intend to implement ours in government.”

“When you go around knocking on thousands of doors, the issue of leaders’ debates and who participates in them is irrelevant to most people. They’re concerned about their jobs, their lives, their futures.”

When Mr Kenny did arrive downstairs at the Bush Hotel for the community meeting after 8.30pm, the media swarm had been replaced by locals and families.

Speaking for about 45 minutes to a few hundred people, he set out the party’s wishes but drove home the need for political change, focusing on the faults of the Fianna Fáil-led past government.

In between numerous rounds of applause, he focused on issues of health, planned tax changes, reducing emigration and helping businesses.

But Mr Kenny received the loudest applause when speaking about ordinary cases of loss or hardship.

“That our anger as raw as it is, it will not get our country running,” he also warned the audience.

The party’s five-point plan would lift the country out of economic doom he said, adding that emigration had been tough on families even with the ability to communicate online and by phones around the world

“No matter how sophisticated technology is, it’s nothing compared to human tears.”

Changes to employers PRSI payments and a reduction in VAT would help small businesses, the meeting was told.

By 2016, he said he wanted Ireland to be the best place in the world to grow up or indeed grow old.

He mentioned the need to reduce bureaucracy in the public service and said there would be no more “reckless spending by ministers” or “writing blank cheques for the banks”.

He again referred to anecdotes about ordinary people who had faced exhaustive efforts trying to get welfare payments or their medical cards through layers of administration, saying such situations would end.

He vowed to change the Dáil and politics, saying the language of politics needed to be more “compassionate and fair”.

Mr Kenny spoke and took questions for two and a quarter hours.

Locals at the meeting asked questions over healthcare, gas reserves and jobs.

They had mixed views about Mr Kenny and his party. Mother-of- five Nessa Lynch said Mr Kenny had been bullied by TV3 presenter Vincent Browne and while she was not a Fine Gael voter, she wanted to hear what he had to say.

Married couple Neil and Marie Cumiskey admitted in recent years that they had both become Fine Gael voters.

Earlier, Mr Kenny made a flying visit through several towns, making stops to meet candidates and supporters in Mullingar, Athlone, Roscommon, Longford and Boyle.

Today, he will campaign in Mayo and Sligo.