Updated 3.55pm
TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY says he wants to lead the country for five more years but had refused to look beyond that.
In an interview this with RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Kenny said that he wants another full term as Taoiseach but doesn’t want to speculate on what he’ll do after that.
“People put dates on any kind of comment you make. I want to win this election. I expect Fine Gael and Labour to be returned to government,” he said.
Kenny: I intend to win this election, to lead the next government and to serve a full-term.
Cathal Mac Coille: And then?
Kenny: I intend to serve a full-term the next time.
Cathal Mac Coille: Will you run in two elections or one?
Kenny: God knows what the future holds.
Speaking later in the day from his party’s two-day think-in in Adare, Kenny said that any succession battle was “a long way in front of us”.
We’re sitting out to win the next election, continue the stability that we have in the country which allows for investment and the creation of jobs and so on. It’s not an issue that’s on the horizon.
Sat beside Frances Fitzgerald at a press conference to close the think-in, Kenny jokingly told the justice minister to answer a question about her own leadership ambitions.
But Fitzgerald said the question does not arise as there is no vacancy, saying:
We have the best Taoiseach this country has ever had in Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
In his earlier Morning Ireland interview, Kenny said he had ‘no regrets at all’ about how he dealt with former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan prior to him stepping down.
“The (Fennelly) Commission Report points out very clearly that Commissioner Callinan made the decision himself under direct questioning. It was his decision to retire, he had other options and he decided not to use them.”
Speaking yesterday, Kenny said that the choice in the next election will be ‘between government or chaos’. He repeated that statement this morning, expanding on his pitch:
“I listened to the leader of the Sinn Féin party leader this morning about the opportunities that he’s presenting. He confirmed that they want to standardise tax relief.”
What this government, under Fine Gael and Labour, set out to do was to reduce the tax burden and that’s paying dividends with growth figures of 7% yesterday. Very strong and quite extraordinary in a European context. But, as Michael Noonan point out yesterday, the government are going to be very careful, going to be very prudent, going to be very responsible with this.
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