Noonan kept Taoiseach ‘informed at all times’ about his health

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan kept the Taoiseach "informed at all times" about his health and eye procedure, Enda Kenny said.

He told reporters at the Fine Gael conference in Castlebar, Co Mayo that he had discussed the Minister's health with him and he had kept him "informed at all times of the progress and the recovery he is making in respect of his health".

“He informed me in the very beginning of the difficulty he was having before his first operation and he informed me in respect of his current recovery from an eye procedure,” Mr Kenny said.

Speaking to the media this afternoon Mr Kenny praised his Limerick colleague said "I am very happy with Michael Noonan" and described the Minister for Finance as a "really solid anchor in this Government and particularly in bringing both respect and trust in his handling of the finance portfolio"

The Taoiseach it was “very important that people appreciate the slow, steady and measurable progress that has been made”.

Addressing reporters in advance of his main address tonight to be broadcast live on RTE, Mr Kenny said “the message is we’ve come a long and difficult journey. It was never going to be easy. We’ve achieved a great deal in that period, and we have a great deal of work to complete.”

He said “we’re over a year out from the election” and “our efforts over the next 12 months - day and night - is going to be to secure the recovery that is now clearly underway”.

Echoing the comments in their addresses to the conference of Cabinet colleagues Richard Bruton and Paschal Donohoe, the Taoiseach said the recovery "is both fragile and incomplete and we cannot afford to put that recovery at risk".

He said the choice the public would have to make “in due course” was between a “clear and stable Government bringing political stability or to hand it over to those who wrecked the economy and the country before or to those who would by following irresponsible policies”.

Speaking in Irish, the Taoiseach also pledged that the importance of the Irish language would be central to the centenary commemorations of the 1916 Rising.