Minister of State for Employment and Small Business, Pat Breen believes Enda Kenny will know when it’s time to step down as Taoiseach but that time has yet to come in his view.
Two Fine Gael backbenchers, Brendan Griffin and Jim Daly raised the issue of Kenny’s leadership of the party in recent days with the pair insisting a conversation on his successor needs to be taking place very soon.
Clare TD Pat Breen praised the Taoiseach for how his fared in the position and he feels making a change at the top would not be in the best interests of the country. “If Taoiseach Kenny decided to announce when he was leaving in the morning I think he would create a lot of uncertainty out there and that wouldn’t be good for the economy, certainly would send the wrong signal to Brussels, I think what we need now is political stability.
“Obviously this is a very difficult situation the one that we’re in at the moment given the fact that we have a minority government supported by Fianna Fáil and Independents that takes a lot of tact to keep that arrangement together, I think Enda Kenny had done a marvellous job in trying to keep it together, he has the experience to do so, there’s a lot of uncertainties out there at the moment dealing with Brexit and also dealing with the Apple situation and other issues aswell”.
Kenny is currently in Kildare at the party think-in. He himself is quoted this week as saying now is not the right time to be “messing” with politics given the current issues mentioned by Breen.
According to Pat Breen, the Taoiseach provides a needed pair of steady hands. “The Taoiseach has made it quite clear that he won’t be leading the party into the next General Election and I think the Taoiseach is a wise man he’ll know when the time is right for him to move so that a new leader can come into place to ensure that the policies of this government can continue to be implemented. What we need here is every minister to sit down, work together in their various departments to ensure that work can be done and I think the Taoiseach will know then when it’s time to go” he concluded.