Profile: Enda Kenny (FG)
Mayo: First TD elected of four
Enda Kenny at the final Fine Gael press conference before the election Photograph: Dara Mac Donaill
Enda Kenny is aged 64. He has been leader of Fine Gael since 2002 and Taoiseach since March 2011 when, in the wake of the economic collapse, he led the party to its most substantial electoral victory to date. A school teacher initially, he has been a TD for Mayo since 1975, succeeding his father, Henry Kenny. Kenny is an affable man who enjoys the outdoors. He is popular in Mayo and the west in general but appealed less to voters on the east coast and in urban Ireland in general. He is the longest serving member of Dáil Éireann but prior to his election as Taoiseach, he had little ministerial experience. He was chief whip during negotiations that led to the creation of the so-called Rainbow Coalition of Fine Gael, Labour and the Democratic Left. In that administration, he served as Minister for Tourism and Trade, his only full ministerial position before becoming Taoiseach. His career as Fine Gael leader has been a series of ups and downs. In 2002, party leader Michael Noonan led Fine Gael to its then worst performance, losing 23 seats. Taking over, Kenny rebuilt the party, winning back 20 seats in the 2007 election and a further 25 in the 2011 election. Kenny will hope that history will credit him with having led a coalition government through an economic crisis and re-establishing Irish economic sovereignty from the IMF and European Central Bank. Kenny and his wife, Fionnuala, are parents to a son and two daughters.
