Enda Kenny

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Enda Kenny, TD
Leader of the Opposition
In office
6 June 2002 – present
Preceded by	Michael Noonan
Born	April 24, 1951 Newport Rd,Castlebar, County Mayo
Constituency	Mayo
Political party
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Fionnuala O'Kelly

Enda Kenny (Irish name: Éanna Ó Cionnaith; born 24 April 1951), an Irish politician, is the 10th leader of the Fine Gael party and Leader of the Opposition in Dáil Éireann. He has been a Teachta Dála for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny. Kenny has previously served as Minister for Tourism and Trade (1994–1997).

Contents 1 Early and private life 2 Government Minister 3 Fine Gael leader 4 Fine Gael under Kenny 5 Political career

[edit] Early and private life

Enda Kenny was born in Castlebar, County Mayo and was educated at Gerard's Collge (De La Salle) in Castlebar, St. Patrick's Teacher Training College, Drumcondra and University College Galway where he qualified as a primary school teacher. Kenny was only 24 when he was elected to the Dáil in a by-election caused by the death of his father Henry. Kenny Sr. had been a TD since 1954 and was serving as a Parliamentary Secretary at the time.

Kenny Jr. remained on the backbenches of the Dáil for almost a decade. In 1983 he was a member of the Fine Gael delegation at the New Ireland Forum and later served on the British-Irish Parliamentary Association. In 1986 Kenny became a Minister of State at the Departments of Education and Labour under Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. He served in that position until early 1987. For the next seven years Fine Gael was out of office. Kenny served in a number of positions on the party's Front Bench, including Education, Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Western Development and Youth Affairs, Sport. He was also the Fine Gael Chief Whip for a short period.

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 Radio Telefís Éireann.

[edit] Government Minister

In 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 was a key member of the team that negotiated, on behalf of Fine Gael, 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 he oversaw an unprecedented growth in tourism business and Ireland's trade position internationally. As Minister he also chaired the European Union Council of Trade Ministers during Ireland's Presidency of the European Council in 1996. In 1997 the government was defeated in the general election and Kenny returned to the Opposition benches.

[edit] 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 threw his hat into the ring in the subsequent leadership election. In the final ballot it was Michael Noonan who emerged victorious. In the 2002 general election Fine Gael suffered its worst electoral performance ever, managing to lose 23 seats despite dropping a mere 5% in votes. Noonan resigned as leader on the night of the result, an action which triggered another leadership election. Kenny once again contested the leadership and emerged successful on that occasion. He has continued to lead the party since then. His "honeymoon period" as new leader was short-lived as the media were quick to question his abilities and sense of judgement. On becoming leader Kenny faced an unenviable task as his demoralised party faced the popular Taoiseach with a mere 31 TDs. He partially silenced his critics with Fine Gael's outstanding performances in the 2004 Local and European elections. The first stage of Fine Gael's comeback was complete and since then Kenny has been growing into his role as his party gears up for the upcoming General Election. In April 2006 he was elected Vice-President of the European Peoples Party, the christian democratic political grouping Fine Gael affiliates with in the European Parliament.

[edit] Fine Gael under Kenny

The tide began to turn for Kenny in 2003 as the government's popularity plummeted. Fine Gael claimed substantial membership increases (the extent of which are unclear) while 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 ^{[citation needed]}.

Under their new leader, Fine Gael have experienced electoral success 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. Much of the credit for this has been given to Enda Kenny's leadership. Political pundits have noted that Kenny's confidence and parliamentary performances greatly improved in the wake of his electoral successes ^{[citation needed]}

Under Kenny the Fine Gael Party has also agreed to enter a pre-election pact with the Labour Party in an attempt to offer the electorate an alternative coalition government at the next general election, expected to take place in 2007. The Green Party are also hoped by Fine Gael and Labour to members of a coalition government should their support be needed.

Enda Kenny's leadership, following the advice of US political consultant Stan Greenberg, 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 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, although many Irish republicans contend this has been at the expense of the nationalist ideal of Irish reunification.

Recently Kenny, who is a fluent Irish speaker, provoked controversy by calling for an end to compulsory Irish language examination in the Leaving Cert. Kenny believes that a new approach will ultimately be in the best interests of the language. This has been opposed by all of the main Irish language organisations.

Opinion polls suggest that Fine Gael appears on course to at least regain many of the seats it lost during its disastrous election result in 2002 with its leader beginning to carve an identity as an alternative Taoiseach. Much media commentary has dealt with the fact that four years into his leadership, Kenny's Fine Gael has yet to set out alternatives on the bulk of government activity and has never published an alternative budget proposal ( a direct reversal of previous Fine Gael policy), instead promising to reform the way money is spent. Both Fine Gael and Labour have said that they will not be publishing the detailed joint programme promised by Kenny in 2004 and they continue a policy of selecting a few wedge issues to campaign on. During the first half of 2006 Kenny also 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.

If Kenny is re-elected at the next general election he will become the longest-serving Teachta Dála. He will thus become the Father of the Dáil, regardless of whether he is Taoiseach, Leader of the Opposition or otherwise.

[edit] Political career

Oireachtas
Preceded by: Henry Kenny	Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Mayo West 1975–1997	Succeeded by: Constituency abolished
Preceded by: Newly created constituency	Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Mayo 1997 – present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by: George Birmingham	Minister of State at the Department of Education 1986–1987	Succeeded by: Frank Fahey
	Minister of State at the Department of Labour 1986–1987	Succeeded by: Office abolished
Preceded by: Charlie McCreevy	Minister for Tourism & Trade 1994–1997	Succeeded by: Jim McDaid
Preceded by: Michael Noonan	Leader of the Fine Gael Party 2002–	Succeeded by: Incumbent
	Leader of the Opposition 2002–

Leaders of Fine Gael
General Eoin O'Duffy (1933-1934) | William T. Cosgrave (1934-1944) | General Richard Mulcahy (1944-1959) | James Dillon (1959-1965) | Liam Cosgrave (1965-1977)  | Garret FitzGerald (1977-1987)  | Alan Dukes (1987-1990)  | John Bruton (1990-2001)  | Michael Noonan (2001-2002)  | Enda Kenny (2002-)