Enda Kenny backs Michael D Higgins and rules out run for Áras

Former taoiseach Enda Kenny has ruled out any possibility of running for the presidency and said it is entirely a matter for Michael D Higgins if he wants to remain at Áras an Uachtaráin.

Mr Kenny, speaking at NUI Galway where he was conferred with an honorary degree of doctor of laws yesterday evening, said he had no intention of going forward to succeed Mr Higgins.

“I have no interest in contesting the presidency for Áras an Uachtaráin. I believe that Michael D Higgins, as Uachtaráin na hÉireann, is doing a superb job there and I wish him every success with the decision he must make in due course.

“It is a matter that is entirely for the President,” said Mr Kenny, when asked if Mr Higgins should go forward for a second term.

Mr Kenny said victims in the tracker mortgage scandal would be compensated, but declined to go into detail.

“I am not going to get into political issues now. This has been coming for quite a long time with analysis from government, and you are aware of the statement made by the governor of the Central Bank today, and the fact that the Minister for Finance [Paschal] Donohoe is meeting all of the banks, and the Government means business here. People were wronged and that wrong will be righted.”

Mr Kenny said he was honoured to receive the honorary degree from the NUI, having initially attended what was then UCG before leaving when his father died.

“I consider this as a very significant honour for public service because that is what it is about. I have spent 46 years now in public life be it throughout teaching or through politics,” he said.

“I am very proud to be receiving this doctorate. I came here in the 1970s but I wasn’t able to finish as my father died.

“In many ways you can say should one have an honour like this bestowed upon them, but I see it on behalf of the people as a measure of service to public duty.”

Mr Kenny said the “quality of my time” is different since he stepped down as taoiseach, and he paid tribute to the way the country had moved forward from the recession, citing the work of two former graduates of NUI Galway as key to the recovery.

“It is a situation where, obviously, the country has moved on. I have paid tribute on many occasions to the service and the decisions made by Eamon Gilmore and Pat Rabbitte as graduates of this university, and as members of the Labour Party serving in government from 2011 when our reputation was in shreds and our economy was shattered, and took really difficult decisions,” said Mr Kenny.

“And I give credit to the people for putting up with the sacrifices that they had to put up with and to see the results in such a short time is truly astonishing in European terms.”