Enda Kenny defends plan to serve a full term as Taoiseach

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said he is justified in his plans to serve a full term in office despite Fine Gael’s performance in February’s general election.

Speaking to The Irish Times on a visit to Washington, Mr Kenny said the people gave “a very complex answer” in the election when he was asked whether the decline in support for Fine Gael was a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

“It took quite a deal of time to respond to that politically,” he said of the election result.

His programme for government reflected “the changed nature of Irish politics” and a transition from single-party government to coalition government to minority government, which he insisted was “now working”.

“It is a very different kind of mentality and attitude that is required here,” he said on his first overseas visit since being re-elected Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach said that Fine Gael was a “broad party” and he enjoyed “very strong support” within it when asked whether the party was supportive of his plans to serve a full term as leader.

The party lost 26 seats in the general election.

On Fine Gael’s first potential legislative defeat on a Fianna Fáil Bill giving powers to reduce mortgage rates, Mr Kenny has said minority governments “cannot act in a majority way and on occasions there will be defeats for the Government”.

The bruising election and the criticism he took during the campaign did not affect him personally, he said.

“In an age of instant reaction and instant communication and instant attack, from personality attacking to political attacking, it is par for the course,” he said.

“This is not an easy profession to be in and you have to have a hard skin and a clear vision of what it is that you think you can be able to do in the interests of your country and your people, and that is what drives me on.”

Mr Kenny said he had “no interest” in considering his legacy: “Insofar as history and legacy is concerned, that is for others for the future.”

He rejected criticism his Government was paying lip service to the Irish arts by not assigning it a dedicated Cabinet portfolio but instead putting it into a new department with regional development and rural affairs.

Respect for arts

Mr Kenny arrived in Washington on Tuesday for a two-day visit to open a three-week Ireland 100 festival of arts and culture at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Oscar-nominated film director Lenny Abrahamson tweeted in response to Mr Kenny’s appearance at the festival that politicians traded on the legacy of Irish artists while Government support for the arts was “shamefully low”.

Asked about whether Donald Trump’s rhetoric could damage US-Ireland relations on tax and immigration, Mr Kenny said the rhetoric was normal in the run-up to an election.