DUBLIN SOUTH BYELECTION:THERE WOULD be no reshuffle of the Fine Gael front bench in the near future, party leader Enda Kenny said at the weekend. "We'll consider these things in the times ahead," he told The Irish Times.
Describing the byelection victory for George Lee in the Dublin South constituency as “spectacular”, Mr Kenny added: “The people have endorsed him in a magnificent way.”
He was personally “absolutely delighted” to see Mr Lee joining the Fine Gael parliamentary party.
Asked about a possible front-bench position for the newly elected TD, Mr Kenny replied: “What I’m going to do here is use all our talent and all our experience in the best way possible. We’ll consider these things in the times ahead.
“Everybody in the party has a real part to play. George Lee is an exceptional attraction to politics in so many ways. And I’ll put it this way to you . . . the thing about George Lee and people like him is that you should not allow them to become sort of – I won’t use the word that John Kelly used years ago – but ruined by the pressure of party politics.
“There’s a purity of conviction here that’s very important in the sense of keeping people’s idealism about what politics can actually achieve,” he added.
Asked if he was planning a front-bench reshuffle in the near future, Mr Kenny replied: “No.”
Asked if Mr Lee would be staying in his present constituency, he said: “I expect he will remain in Dublin South. This is now the second constituency in the country where we have three out of five – you know where the first one is [his own constituency of Mayo].”
He said Mr Lee’s decision to join Fine Gael had “opened a floodgate of people out there in public and in private life who are sending in their ideas and their views about how we could change things around in so many different areas”.
Commenting on the overall results, he said it was “a historic day for Fine Gael. It’s the first time we’ve ever outpolled Fianna Fáil in any election . . . That’s comforting certainly for our own supporters, they’ve never been on this ground before”.
Calling for a general election, Mr Kenny said: “Their credibility is in shreds, their conviction is in tatters, the people have lost all faith in them and if Government Green backbenchers or Government Fianna Fáil backbenchers had any courage, they would now stand up and walk.”
In his victory speech after the result was declared, Mr Lee said: “I know that my victory is a boost for his leadership. Thank you, Enda.”
Mr Lee said he would be remaining in the constituency. “My job is to represent those people in Dublin South. Regardless of what other people say about where they think I’m going, I’m staying.”
Unsuccessful Labour candidate in Dublin South Alex White pointed out that his party’s share of the vote in the constituency had gone from just over 10 per cent to almost 20 per cent since the 2007 general election, and this was reflected in local election results.
“On those numbers, we will definitely win a seat in the general election.” Confirming that he would be seeking nomination as a Labour candidate next time, Mr White said: “It’s a long time since the Labour Party got 10,000 votes in Dublin South.”
