Enda Kenny wants to lead Fine Gael and Labour for second term

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has ruled himself out leading Fine Gael into the next decade and rejected comments by chief whip Paul Kehoe that he would seek a third term as Taoiseach.

Mr Kenny said he wants to lead the Fine Gael and Labour Coalition for a second term but that he would not “impose” himself on voters after that.

His surprisingly candid comments come after Mr Kehoe told the Irish Examiner last week that his party leader, if “returned as Taoiseach after the next general election, will serve another five years or more”.

Cabinet ministers have tried to play down the chief whip’s remarks but also suggested that Mr Kehoe’s words had annoyed the Taoiseach.

Mr Kenny yesterday said that it was “silly season”, that his chief whip had done “very good work”, but the Wexford TD had also used a “lot of poetic licence”.

Speaking in Mayo, he added: “It would be arrogant and presumptuous of any public representative to assume that they can be elected to anything, myself included, until the people vote.

“I’m very clear what I want to do. What I want to do is finish the job that I was given responsibility for, that was to sort out our public finances to put our country back to work. That job is not finished.

“I have no intention of staying beyond the remit of the next government to be Taoiseach. Why should I try to impose myself on the electorate.

“What my intention will be is to win the forthcoming election, to lead a government of Fine Gael and Labour, to provide stability, provide security and provide prosperity for all our people.

“All our people can benefit from the rising confidence in our economy and when the time comes for the people to make their choice, that choice will be clear. They can have government or they can have chaos.”

Communications Minister Alex White is the latest Government figure to comment on speculation about the possibility of an election pact between Fine Gael and Labour for the general election.

The Labour minister said that there should not be a joint manifesto but that Labour would be acknowledging when campaigning that the party would not be — if returned — governing on its own.

He also admitted that the latest Irish Water fiasco around the company failing a crucial EU commercial independence test was “embarrassing”.

“We can take embarrassment and I think the Government has to take embarrassment and has to take criticism on Irish Water,” said Mr White.

“I think that it would be desirable for it to be off balance sheet because there would be more freedom for borrowing, but I don’t think that it’s the most critical issue personally.”

Mr White said it was “fair enough” for the Government to query the Eurostat decision on Irish Water.