Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has called on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to outline his intentions with regard to his leadership of Fine Gael, despite a call from Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan for restraint.
Increasing pressure on Mr Kenny to set out timeline for his departures , Mr Varadkar said in a statement on Saturday evening that everyone was waiting to hear from the Taoiseach and the current situation “is distracting and destabilising for the Government, the party and the country”.
The Minister said: “I have full confidence in the Taoiseach to settle it.”
His statement followed a warning by his Cabinet colleague that the country could be catapulted into a general election with “disastrous consequences”.
Mr Flanagan stressed that it was important to set the right political climate.
“I would appeal to everybody in Fine Gael to exercise calm and restraint over the next few months,” he said.
Mr Varadkar, seen as the frontrunner in the leadership campaign, did not heed the appeal, increasing pressure on the Taoiseach.
Earlier in the day Government Chief Whip Regina Doherty said people were wrong who claimed Mr Varadkar and his main rival Minister for Housing Simon Coveney were impatient for the leadership issue to be resolved and she insisted there was no “orchestrated campaign” to remove Mr Kenny as leader.
Speaking before a wedding reception for former senator Eugene Regan and Janne Storgaard in Dublin, Mr Flanagan said: “We are in Government, there are Government priorities. The matters under discussion will take their course in accordance with our Constitution and rules.
“I would urge caution in terms of public comment because what will happen if restraint isn’t exercised will catapult the country into a general election which will have disastrous consequences because we will be playing into the hands of both Sinn Féin and looney Independents.”
The wedding was attended by several members of Cabinet including Mr Varadkar who declined to comment but later issued his strongly worded statement.
Minister for Health Simon Harris also declined to rule himself out of a future leadership bid.
“I have no intention of getting into that today. I don’t think the timing is right in relation to that; there is no vacancy. The Taoiseach has my full support,” he said.
Mr Harris said it was appropriate for the Taoiseach to forge his own exit timetable. “I am very happy for him to make his own decision. I think it is very important that he is given space to do just that.”
A leadership favourite, Minister for Housing Simon Coveney, also declined to comment on his future or how things may develop next week.
“I don’t think (Enda Kenny) should be forced to set a date. Enda is still the leader of the party, he has been for 15 years and I think he deserves the respect, to give him time and space to make any decisions he thinks he needs to make. That’s been my position all along,” he said.
Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar and Minister for Justice and Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald declined to comment.
Blackmail ultimatums
Earlier on Saturday Ms Doherty called on her Fine Gael colleagues to desist from issuing blackmail ultimatums to Mr Kenny over his future.
Ms Doherty said while it was not her role to control what people in the party were saying, talk of motions of no confidence and deadlines were unedifying to the party.
“He has done a tremendous amount for us in Fine Gael over the last 15 years and just because of that, if no other reason, he deserves the due respect and regard and space to talk to his friends and family, make his decisions and come back to us,” she said.
“This is about the future direction of a political party. We have 35,000 members. The overwhelming view is we owe him a debt.”
She also said newspaper reports suggesting Mr Varadkar, tipped as one of the two strongest candidates to replace Mr Kenny along with Mr Coveney, was impatient for the leadership issue to be addressed were wrong.
She is certain there was “no orchestrated campaign” to accelerate Mr Kenny’s removal as leader and no one wanted to see an undignified mess.
Ms Doherty declined to name who she would support during any leadership contest, because "I have a boss" but said once the contest was formally under way she would have "no issue in declaring who I support" she told the Claire Byrne radio programme on RTÉ.
On the same programme Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness said events of the last two weeks meant the Government was now on notice and that people were openly talking about Mr Kenny’s departure.
In Galway, Minister of State Sean Kyne said he would oppose any motion of no confidence in Mr Kenny as Fine Gael party leader.
Mr Kyne, who opened a conference on salmon in Galway on Saturday as part of his inland fisheries brief , told The Irish Times he believed any such move would be "unfair".
Fine Gael backbench TD Pat Deering has threatened to table a motion of no confidence at next week’s parliamentary party meeting if Mr Kenny does not make his intentions clear beforehand.
Mr Kyne said Mr Kenny was the sitting Taoiseach and had been party leader for almost 15 years.
“I do know that there are concerns in the party that we came close to an election, and the Taoiseach did set the clock ticking himself in relation to leadership change, when he said he would not be leading into the next general election,” Mr Kyne said.
Mr Kyne declined to indicate who he might favour as party leader, stating that there was an “abundance of great candidates”.
