FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said winning the confidence motion on his leadership had brought to an end all of the tensions that had been building up in Fine Gael.
Mr Kenny said he was relieved and glad at the outcome of the meeting where a majority of the 70-member parliamentary party endorsed his leadership.
Mr Kenny described the meeting, which lasted some five hours, as emotional but without rancour or recrimination. He emerged from Leinster House at 5.30pm an hour after the meeting had ended to loud applause from TDs, Senators and MEPs, both supporters and dissenters.
Speaking on the plinth he said the endorsement would allow Fine Gael to move on as a completely united party. He also described the past week as having been a very difficult week for him.
“I feel relieved. I am glad that it’s over. I have to say that the meeting was one of tension for me in many ways because it’s not easy to sit at the top table with 69 of your colleagues who are your jurors in this matter.
“I am happy for all our sakes that meeting endorsed the vote of confidence.”
Mr Kenny said Fine Gael’s disastrous election in 2002 had been his worst day in politics but that the challenge he faced this week had also been very trying.
“I have been on the edge of heaves. I was a very strong defender of John Bruton on three [occasions]. I have never been a central figure before now. It’s a trying time. You examine yourself and your credentials and your qualities,” he said.
Mr Kenny said he would not choose a new front bench next Monday, as he had previously indicated, but would instead take some time to reflect and to consult colleagues.
He said his friendship with Richard Bruton had not been broken as a result of the contest. He deflected questions, however, about the likelihood of inviting Mr Bruton back to the front bench.
“I will make the appointment based on the new reality that this meeting has been finished. We will pick a new team with new responsibilities . . . I want to be inclusive.”
He said there would be no recriminations against those who had voted against him.
“My record has been one of delivery in terms of contesting elections. My record has been one of healing wounds after 2002 and other times. That will continue to be the hallmark of my leadership of this party,” he said.
His own closing speech at the meeting was identified by a large number of colleagues as pivotal, and earned a prolonged standing ovation, though he directly criticised some opponents in trenchant and direct terms.
“I did address a number of issues that were raised. I did speak of my own qualities as a person, the characteristics that I have since being born in Fine Gael and the pride that we have in our party and in the future,” he said.
Mr Kenny rejected the proposition that his authority of the party was in question because a majority of frontbenchers had opposed the motion of confidence, or because his victory was not emphatic.
He said that the actual result had not been disclosed to anybody by the two tellers, party chairman Padraic McCormack and party secretary Paschal Donohoe. He said that neither would they ever reveal the number of votes cast for and against the motion.
Mr Kenny returned to address doubts over his character or resolve.
He said: “The Enda Kenny they had in mind is not the person who had the bottle to stand up to this.
“I took a difficult decision in having to relieve my deputy leader of his duties and take the initiative to bring forward a motion of confidence in myself.”