FG leadership: Coveney rejects restricting vote for top job

Any future Fine Gael leadership contest should take in the views of the entire party and not be restricted to TDs and senators, Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has said.

Along with Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, Mr Coveney is seen as one of the leading contenders to succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

During the lengthy government formation talks earlier this year, Fine Gael ministers discussed a contingency plan to carry out a rapid leadership contest in the event of a snap general election. The Taoiseach has said he will not lead Fine Gael into another general election.

Fine Gael’s current rules stipulate a leadership contest can take up to 20 days, with hustings and votes by councillors and members. Two options to speed this up were discussed by some in the party.

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One involved holding a special party conference, attended by the elected officials and rank-and-file members, over a weekend. The other involved restricting the vote to TDs, Senators and MEPs and presenting their choice to members.

All candidates would have to support the chosen process.

Existing party rules

Under existing party rules, the leadership is decided by an electoral college which gives parliamentarians 65 per cent of the votes, ordinary members 25 per cent and councillors 10 per cent.

Some Fine Gael figures still privately favour such an approach, with some sources claiming it could give Fianna Fáil an opportunity to bring the Government down while Mr Kenny was being replaced.

However, Mr Coveney told The Irish Times the full process as laid down in the party rules should apply.

“We have a process, an agreed process in terms of how leadership change would happen and I think we should implement and follow the process,” he said, adding he did not believe a scenario would arise where Fine Gael would have to change leader in advance of a snap election.

“I don’t think that is going to happen and I don’t think Enda Kenny would allow that to happen,” he said.

“ I think that’s really hypothetical stuff. I think the leadership discussion in Fine Gael is a distraction that a lot of people could do without. I don’t see it happening soon. I think I can only focus on my own job, I have a lot to do. Some people are in a rush to see that happen sooner rather than later. I’m not.”

While he acknowledged that the contest to succeed Mr Kenny is something of a “slow bicycle race”, he said it is not what “keeps me up at night thinking about my role in politics”.

“What keeps me up at night are issues around a whole series of things that I have responsibility for. For me, and I think I’ve been pretty consistent on this, I trust the Taoiseach’s judgement. He deserves that trust.

“The Taoiseach is well able to decide and think about when the right time is for a leadership change both in Government and in Fine Gael, in the context of the next general election.”