Fine Gael's Richard Bruton has called on leader Enda Kenny to resign and call off tomorrow's confidence vote.
Mr Bruton, who earlier declared he would be a unifying force as leader, made the call on the steps of Leinster House this afternoon.
In a statement issued today, however, Mr Kenny said he was "extremely encouraged" by strong support from inside and outside the parliamentary party ahead of tomorrow's confidence vote in him.
“This volume of support will ensure that I will carry the motion tomorrow and lead Fine Gael into the next election and, after, to the Taoiseach’s office," he said. "I look forward to . . . leading the party into another successful election as I have done on three previous occasions."
Limerick TD Kieran O’Donnell, who Mr Kenny named as Mr Bruton’s replacement as finance spokesman, today declared support for the challenger. Mr O’Donnell said he told Mr Kenny of his intentions this morning. “I feel that Richard Bruton is the most viable option to lead the party," he said.
The party's justice spokesman Charlie Flanagan also said today he would be supporting Mr Bruton.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Bruton said he was the only person who could bring together rival factions in the party.
The Fine Gael TD said he had the experience necessary for the leadership and had made the right calls on economic issues facing the country. "We are on the brink of real challenges, and we need somebody who has an understanding of those issues," Mr Bruton said.
He denied the party was damaged by the leadership issue and claimed Fine Gael was at its best when considering important issues. However, Mr Bruton said Fine Gael was performing "way below" its potential and now needed a leader capable of convincing people of the party's vision and implementing in government.
"Enda has brought the party as far as he can," he said.
"I no longer have confidence that Enda Kenny offers the leadership the country needs. I’m not envisaging losing,” Mr Bruton said. “I believe that this country needs change. I believe the party has appetite for change.
“I believe the crisis is so serious that we need someone, and maybe you will say this is someone blowing my own trumpet, I have called it right on the economy, and I have been successful as Minister for Enterprise and Employment who shaped the economic success we had before Fianna Fáil destroyed it.
“I’m passionate about the need to rebuild that and give to our people choices they should have had - a genuine, authentic Ireland not the glitzy, garish Ireland the Celtic Tiger produced,” Mr Bruton said.
Mr Bruton said it would be hypocritical for him to return to the head of the party after standing against Mr Kenny and insisted he would unite the party. “I believe that I will be a unifying force in the party,” Mr Bruton said. “I think the only thing that can now bring together the party, all the different elements, is a new leader. Under a new leader I think we can mend and go forward united.
“More important than that, we go forward united for a very clear purpose - it is loyalty to the people that is motivating this change. They have lost so much due to failed politics and we need to make our country secure again,” he said.
The former frontbencher added he was confident in his ability to take on the Taoiseach in the Dáil, as Mr Cowen "had it wrong on every issue".
Also speaking on RTÉ, Phil Hogan expressed confidence Mr Kenny would win the leadership vote and said he was "disappointed and disheartened" to hear people such as Mr Bruton would not make themselves available for selection for the front bench.
Yesterday, Mr Kenny had offered an olive branch to leading opponents last night in an effort to win the vote tomorrow. He said no one would be excluded from consideration from his front bench if they accepted the democratic will of the party.
Lucinda Creighton, who is also in the Bruton camp, claimed today she had been offered a front bench position by Mr Kenny in exchange for her support.
Mr Kenny said that if he won tomorrow’s vote, nobody would be excluded from consideration from the front bench if they accepted the democratic will of the party. The move came after nine members of his front bench called on him to step down as leader and backed Mr Bruton, who was sacked as deputy leader and finance spokesman by Mr Kenny.
Denis Naughten, Olivia Mitchell, Olwyn Enright, Simon Coveney, Brian Hayes, Fergus O’Dowd, Leo Varadkar, Billy Timmins and Michael Creed told reporters on the plinth in Leinster House they had lost confidence in their party leader.
Both the Kenny and Bruton sides claim they have secured a majority of the 70-strong parliamentary party.
Mr Coveney said today he believes between 12 and 15 parliamentary party members are still undecided as to whether to support Mr Kenny. He predicted the party will ultimately opt for change. “I actually think Enda would have made a very good Taoiseach but I don’t think that view is reflected across the wider public and I think that was Richard Bruton’s main motivation - that he can get the party’s message across more effectively outside of Fine Gael than Enda has,” he said.
Speaking on Cork’s 96FM, Mr Coveney said he had not sought or been promised any position by Mr Bruton in return for his support nor had he engaged in any campaigning or soliciting of support for him. “Obviously if Enda wins tomorrow, I will respect that and I will do what I can to work with him and the party and make that work but I don’t expect to be in the kind of position I’m in now in the party, which is one of significant responsibility,” he added.
Mr Hayes said today he would not return to the front bench if Mr Kenny wins tomorrow's vote. "I would be an utter hypocrite having said I have no confidence in him as a leader."
Mr Hayes said he was confident Mr Kenny would lose tomorrow's vote as momentum is building. "I think Richard Bruton will be the new leader and I'll be backing him," he added.
Meath West TD Damien English said today he believed Mr Bruton had enough supporters within the parliamentary party to win the challenge. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said some people had switched their allegiance in recent days. Mr English said both Mr Kenny and Mr Bruton were very popular and "extremely well-liked".
He added that Mr Kenny had done “great work” for the party over the past eight years and was the right person to lead it at the time he took over. He said, however, that people he met did not want Mr Kenny as Taoiseach. “It is not his fault. He has not managed to convince people he can do this job.”
One of Mr Kenny’s opponents, Dublin South TD Olivia Mitchell said she was disappointed it had come to a contest. “He is a fighter. That’s the one thing I’ve discovered about Enda. He didn’t get to where he was today without being tough.”
Former party leader Michael Noonan, who is thought to be in the Bruton camp, today refused to say who he will be backing.
There is speculation that if Mr Kenny lost the vote, Mr Bruton would face at least one challenger in the leadership race. Any such election would take weeks, possibly months, as the party has adopted a complex electoral system under which 65 per cent of the votes reside with the parliamentary party of TDs, Senators and MEPs, 25 per cent with party members and 10 per cent with local councillors.
Party chairman Padraic McCormack, who will chair the party meeting tomorrow, said a contested leadership election would take some time. “This is uncharted water and is completely new,” he said.
For, against and undecided in the party
Expected Kenny Supporters
34
Enda Kenny. Phil Hogan. Alan Shatter. Joe Carey. Bernard Allen. PJ Sheahan. Dinny McGinley. James Reilly. Seán Barrett. Paul Connaughton. Jimmy Deenihan. Tom Sheahan. Bernard Durkan. Dan Neville. Catherine Byrne. James Bannon. John O'Mahony. Michael Ring. Shane McEntee. Frank Feighan. John Perry. Paul Kehoe. Sen Liam Twomey. Sen Paddy Burke. Sen Frances Fitzgerald. Sen Joe O'Reilly. Jim Higgins, MEP. Mairead McGuinness, MEP. Sean Kelly, MEP. Gay Mitchell, MEP. Sen Maurice Cummins. Sen Paudie Coffey. Sen Ciaran Cannon. Senator Paul Coughlan.
Expected Kenny Opponents
28
Richard Bruton. Denis Naughten. Olivia Mitchell, Olwyn Enright. Simon Coveney. Brian Hayes. Leo Varadkar. Billy Timmins. Fergus O'Dowd. Michael Creed. Lucinda Creighton. John Deasy. Senator John Paul Phelan. Senator Paul Bradford. Joe McHugh. Ulick Burke. Pat Breen. Michael Noonan. Damien English. Tom Hayes. Michael D'Arcy. Jim O'Keeffe. Andrew Doyle. Senator Pascal Donohoe. Senator Eugene Regan. Senator Nicky McFadden. Kieran O’Donnell. Charlie Flanagan.
Unknown Or Claimed By Both Sides
8
Deirdre Clune. Terence Flanagan. Pádraic McCormack (party chairman). Fidelma Healy-Eames. Noel Coonan. David Stanton. Seymour Crawford. Senator Jerry Buttimer.