Kenny predicts 'hammering' for FF in next general election

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said he believes his party can win the next general election.

He predicted that Fianna Fáil would get a “ferocious hammering” in the next election, and said he did not believe the Government would complete its term. It did not have a mandate, he said, and had lost confidence, credibility and control.

Mr Kenny said his party was preparing for a general election, and would focus on the forthcoming local and European elections as well as on the two upcoming byelections in Dublin to replace the late Séamus Brennan and Tony Gregory.

He said the Government had a poor chance of winning the byelections, and Fine Gael had a good chance, particularly with Senator Paschal Donohue in Dublin Central.

He also said he was ready to become Taoiseach tomorrow if the opportunity came his way.

“Whenever it comes, I’m ready for it,” he said.

“The Government that I lead will have a mandate from the people to lead by example, sorting this country out as we did before when times called upon us to do so.”

Speaking on RTÉ radio, Mr Kenny accused the Government of walking the country into the current economic crisis “consciously and deliberately by recklessly spending”.

The signs of the downturn were there, he said, but they were ignored.

“They are nothing but a Government of kite-fliers and wasters.”