Options limited - Mr Kenny’s leadership

FEW democratic leaders are so successful, powerful, or loved that they get to dictate the terms of their going. 

Even the most assertive and successful eventually succumb to exhaustion, disfavour, or something as simple as a need for a change to re-energise flagging spirits. Even uno voce, uno duce leaders have to finally slink into the shadows because their will to lead can no longer repel the ambitions of those who might lead. The open dissent, the public dagger-sharpening, suggests we have reached, or passed, that point with Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s leadership of Fine Gael.

Yesterday’s Irish Times poll that put Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil on 26% — just seven points ahead of Sinn Féin — will add to that impression. The need for stability and as much certainty as is possible for the Brexit marathon does too. Yesterday’s assertion from Fine Gael backbencher John Deasy that as many as 15 Government TDs privately want Mr Kenny to step down adds grist to the mill. The implication of the report into Fine Gael’s election disaster is equally cold eyed. Mr Kenny seems to have very few plausible options.