Enda Kenny

Infobox Minister
name = Enda Kenny
honorific-suffix = TD

|Enda Kenny]
imagesize = 175px
office = Leader of the Opposition
term_start = 2 June 2002
term_end =
primeminister =
predecessor = Michael Noonan
successor =
office2 = Minister for Tourism & Trade
predecessor2 = Charlie McCreevy
successor2 = Jim McDaid
term_start2 = 15 December 1994
term_end2 = 6 June 1997
primeminister2=
office3 = Teachta Dála for Mayo
Mayo West (1975–1997)
predecessor3 = Henry Kenny
successor3 =
term_start3 = 12 November 1975
term_end3 =
birth_date =Birth date and age|1951|4|24|df=yes
birth_place =Castlebar County Mayo Ireland
death_date =
death_place =
party = Fine Gael
religion =
alma_mater = St. Patrick's College of Education
spouse = Fionnuala O'Kelly
children =
website =
footnotes =

:"For the Australian singer, see Enda Kenny (singer)"

Enda Kenny ( _ga. Éanna Ó Cionnaith; born 24 April 1951), an Irish politician, is the leader of the Fine Gael party and Leader of the Opposition in Dáil Éireann. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. Kenny has previously served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997.

Early and private life

Enda Kenny was born in Castlebar, County Mayo in 1951. The third child in a family of five, he was educated locally at St. Patrick's national school in Cornanool and St. Gerald's College (De La Salle) in Castlebar. Kenny later attended St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Dublin and University College Galway. He later worked as a primary school teacher.

Kenny has been married to Fionnuala O'Kelly since 1992 and the couple have three children. The couple met in Leinster House where O'Kelly worked, ironically, as a press officer for Fianna Fáil. She later worked with RTÉ.

Kenny is also a keen supporter of his native Mayo Gaelic football team. His father, Henry Kenny, won an All-Ireland medal with the inter-county team in 1936.

Early political career

From an early age Kenny was exposed to politics as his father, Henry Kenny, became a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) in 1954. In the early 1970s he became directly involved in politics when he started helping his father with constituency clinics. In 1975 Henry Kenny, who was at this stage a Parliamentary Secretary in the government, died after a short battle with cancer. The Fine Gael party wanted one of his sons to stand as their candidate in the subsequent by-election, and so Enda Kenny was chosen. He was elected by a landslide, and at 24 he was one of the youngest TDs in the Dáil.

Kenny remained on the backbenches of the Dáil for almost a decade. He was appointed party spokesperson firstly on youth affairs and sport, then western development, however, he failed to build a national profile as he concentrated more on constituency matters. Kenny was left out in the cold when Garret FitzGerald became Taoiseach for the first time in 1981 and again in 1982. He was, however, appointed as a member of the Fine Gael delegation at the New Ireland Forum in 1983 and later served on the British-Irish Parliamentary Association. In 1986 he became a Minister of State at the Departments of Education and Labour. Fine Gael lost the 1987 general election resulting in Kenny being on the opposition benches for the next seven years. In spite of this his national profile was raised as he served in a number of positions on the party's front bench, including Education, Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands. He was also the Fine Gael Chief Whip for a short period.

Government minister

In late 1994 the Fianna Fáil–Labour Party government collapsed; however, no general election was called. Instead a Fine Gael–Labour Party–Democratic Left "Rainbow Coalition" came to power. Kenny, as Fine Gael chief whip, was a key member of the team, which negotiated the programme for government with the other two parties prior to the formation of the new government. Under Taoiseach John Bruton, Kenny joined the cabinet and was appointed Minister for Tourism and Trade. During his tenure as minister, Ireland saw a significant growth in tourism business and in its international trade position. As minister he chaired the European Union Council of Trade Ministers during Ireland's six-month Presidency of the European Council as well as co-chairing a round of the World Trade Organization talks in 1996. Among Kenny's other achievements were the rejuvenation of the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin and the successful negotiations to bring a stage of the 1998 Tour de France to Ireland. In 1997 the government was defeated in the general election and Kenny returned to the opposition benches.

Fine Gael leader

In 2001 John Bruton resigned as leader of Fine Gael following a vote of no confidence in his ability. Kenny was one of a number of candidates who stood in the subsequent leadership election, promising to "electrify the party". In the final ballot it was Michael Noonan who emerged victorious (it is Fine Gael's custom not to publish ballot results for leadership elections). Noonan subsequently failed to give a spokesperson's assignment to Kenny.

In the 2002 general election Fine Gael suffered its worst electoral performance ever, losing 23 seats, a figure larger than expected and with its overall vote down 5%. Kenny himself came close to losing his seat and even went so far as to prepare a concession speech. In the end he won the third seat in the constituency. Michael Noonan resigned as Fine Gael leader on the night of the result, an action which triggered another leadership election. Protest meetings were held by members of the party against the speed with which the leadership election had been called and the failure to broaden the franchise to the membership. It was suggested that it was foolish to choose a leader before conducting an electoral post-mortem.

Kenny once again contested the leadership and emerged successful on that occasion. On becoming leader he faced an unenviable task as his demoralised party faced the popular Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, with 31 TDs. In the beginning his leadership style was also criticised. The tide began to turn for Fine Gael in 2003 as the Fianna Fáil-led government's popularity took a downturn. Fine Gael's membership increased and the party became a much more united entity. Kenny's first major televised conference speech in November 2003 was well received by the media and, for many, marked a turn in Fine Gael's fortunes as it began to offer more vigorous opposition to Ahern's government Fact|date=February 2007.

Fine Gael out-performed expectations in the 2004 Local and European elections, which saw Fine Gael increase it representation from 4 MEPs of 15 from Ireland, to 5 from 13. This was the first time Fine Gael beat Fianna Fáil in a national election since 1927. The first stage of Fine Gael's comeback was complete.

In July 2005, five men from the north of Kenny's Mayo constituency were jailed over their opposition to the Fianna Fail-led government's plans for the Corrib gas project. One of the men, Philip McGrath, worked for Kenny as an election agent for Rossport during general elections. Unlike his fellow Mayo Fine Gael TD, Michael Ring, Kenny was cautious about backing the mens' stance (Ring would later be forced to adopt the same policy). [cite web
url=http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1710340&issue_id=14795
title=SF accused of hijacking Corrib oil pipeline protest
work=Irish Independent
date=2006-10-21] The Shell to Sea campaign that was founded to help release the men and get the government to change its mind shut down work on the project for fifteen months. When Gardaí were brought in to violently remove protesters with tactics that saw many hospitalised, Kenny said: "The law must be obeyed." [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1110/mayo.html
title=Serious confrontation at Corrib gas site
work=RTÉ News
date=2006-11-10
accessdate=2008-04-09]

In November 2005, Kenny called for the abolishment of compulsory Irish for the Leaving Certificate examinations, a move against one of the State's oldest shibboleths. This was opposed by all the major Irish language organisations. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/1116/irish.html
title=150 protest against Fine Gael's Irish policy
work=RTÉ News
date=2005-11-16] In March 2006 Kenny was elected Vice-President of the European People's Party (EPP), the largest European political group to which Fine Gael is affiliated. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0331/kennye.html
title=Enda Kenny elected Vice-President of EPP
work=RTÉ News
date=2006-03-31] In his speech to the EPP he stated that Fine Gael would be in Government within 2 years.

During the first half of 2006 Kenny went aggressively after a more populist line on the cost of immigration, street crime, paedophilia and homeowner's rights. A graphic description of a mugging he had experienced was given to the Dáil in the context of a crime discussion, only for it to be revealed a day later that the incident had occurred in Kenya not Ireland. [cite news
url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/kennys-comment-on-attack-misleading-85842.html
title=Kenny's comment on attack 'misleading'
work=Irish Independent
date=2006-07-01]

2007 general election

Under Kenny the Fine Gael Party agreed to enter a pre-election pact with the Labour Party in order to offer the electorate an alternative coalition government at the 2007 general election of 24 May 2007. The so-called 'Mullingar Accord' was agreed in September 2004 following the European and Local elections that year. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0906/opposition.html
title=Opposition leaders unveil 'Mullingar Accord'
work=RTÉ News
date=2004-09-06
accessdate=2008-04-09] The Green Party also signalled via the media to be in favour of membership of such a coalition government after the election. They refused to commit to an agreement prior to polling day however.

Enda Kenny's leadership has attempted to define Fine Gael as a party of the progressive centre. Its policy initiatives have concentrated on value for money, consumer rights, civil partnerships, reform of public spending, reward and enterprise and preventative health care policy. The party has sought to retake its former mantle as the law-and-order party committed to defending the institutions of the state. At the Fine Gael Ardfheis in March 2007 Kenny outlined his platform for the forthcoming general election entitled the 'Contract for a Better Ireland.' [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0331/finegael.html
title=FG Ard-Fheis: Contract for a Better Ireland
work=RTÉ News
date=2007-03-31
accessdate=2008-04-09] The main aspects of this 'contract' included:
* 2,300 more hospital beds
* 2,000 more Gardaí
* Tougher jail sentences and tougher bail for criminals
* Free health insurance for all children under 16
* Lower income tax

The Fine Gael campaign was generally regarded as a well-organised and energetic one, which focussed on Kenny's strengths. The party leader toured every constituency and set the pace early on. However, by the end of the campaign Fianna Fáil found its feet and in the final week managed to turn the spotlight on Enda Kenny's lack of cabinet experience. Some regard this as the single factor which caused a sharp rise in Fianna Fáil support towards the end of the campaign. In particular, Bertie Ahern was perceived by many to have comfortably beaten Kenny in the pre-election Leaders' Debate. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0517/newsontwo_av.html?2249264,null,230
title=News on Two
work=RTÉ News
date=2007-05-17] Nonetheless, the Fine Gael campaign was its most vibrant since 1982 when the party won 70 seats.

When the votes were counted it emerged that Fine Gael had made large gains, increasing its number of seats by twenty to give a total of 51 seats in the new Dáil. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/elections2007/toptens.html
title=RTÉ Election 2007 - Election news and results
work=RTÉ News
accessdate=2008-04-09] But Kenny's so-called 'Alliance for Change' would not have enough seats to form a majority in the new Dáil, as neither the Labour Party nor the Greens made gains. Despite predictions to the contrary, the Fianna Fáil vote recovered sufficiently to bring it to 78 seats, and a return to government for then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. [cite news
url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0614/election.html
title=Ahern names new Cabinet
work=RTÉ News
date=2007-06-14
accessdate=2008-04-09]

Kenny is currently the longest-serving TD in Dáil Éireann still in office. Thus, he is the incumbent Father of the Dáil.

References

External links

* [http://endakenny.finegael.ie/Representatives/common/index.cfm Enda Kenny's website]
* [http://electionsireland.org/candidate.cfm?ID=3199 Enda Kenny's electoral history] (ElectionsIeland.org)

Navboxes
title=Enda Kenny
list1=