Shadow of infighting falls over launch of Fine Gael manifesto

Coalition infighting dominated the launch of Fine Gael’s manifesto for the crunch European elections.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny moved to lavish public praise on Labour ministers after the party’s rogue MEP Phil Prendergast called for Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore to be ousted as leader due to his failure to connect with voters.

Government confusion and back-biting over delays in announcing the water- pricing regime also featured prominently at the launch which the party had hoped would focus on economic recovery.

And Fine Gael’s Simon Harris used the occasion to lash out at his Labour rival in the Ireland South constituency, Ms Prendergast, for using the campaign to play out “party domestics”.

While claiming the May 23 national poll was “probably the most important European election ever”, Mr Kenny was forced onto the defensive due to Coalition tensions.

Heaping praise on Labour for taking “difficult” decisions in Government he reminded critics both parties had gone into sharing power “with their eyes open”.

The Taoiseach insisted they had not done it to be “liked or loved”, but in order to sort out the country’s financial crisis.

Mr Kenny said that, with 70% of decisions having to be co-approved by the European Parliament, Fine Gael was in a position of influence as part of the large European People’s Party (EPP) block. With Ireland having just 11 of the 751 seats in the parliament, Mr Kenny stressed it was important representatives were part of the EPP “block of influence”.

In a side-swipe at Ms Prendergast, Mr Harris accused her of “hiding behind posters and internal party wrangling” rather than debating what an MEP could actually achieve in Brussels.

Mr Kenny acknowledged the disparate nature of the new Euro seats which sees Dublin left intact, but the rest of the country split into two giant constituencies because of a reduction in the number of Irish MEPs.

“You can configure anyway you like, you are always going to have issues of agreement and disagreement. This is the situation we have got. The constituencies are massive,” Mr Kenny said.