Fine Gael in leadership row crisis

Ireland's main opposition party in crisis as Deputy Leader and nine frontbenchers try to oust party leader Enda Kenny.

Ireland's main opposition party in crisis as Deputy Leader and nine frontbenchers try to oust party leader Enda Kenny.


The rebellion erupted in mid June as deputy party leader Richard Bruton, the brother of former Fine Gael taoiseach John Bruton, declared publicly that he no longer had confidence in Enda Kenny's leadership.

Enda Kenny's position as leader of Fine Gael has been under pressure for some time as a faction within the party accused him of weak leadership and failure to benefit from a historically unpopular Fianna Fáil government.

The revolt took place after an Irish Times poll published on the 10th June showed yet another decline for Fine Gael, which saw the party fall into second place behind Labour.

Mr Bruton declared that although Mr Kenny "had done a huge amount of work for the party", the party leader was not convincing people "that Fine Gael was the party to manage their affairs to create a secure future for them".

Nine Fine Gael frontbench members joined Mr Bruton in saying they no longer had confidence in their party leader.

Mr Kenny moved swiftly canvassing party backbenchers and sacked his rebel deputy leader, in a shock move that ended a week of internal tension within the party.

In a press conference, Mr Kenny said "I cannot have a situation where my deputy leader does not offer his support for me" and said the party needed now to move forward in "a unified, strong and cohesive fashion".

Party chairman Pádraic McCormack said "The party is damaged in the short term, but I’ve no doubt whatsoever that we’ll recover from that."