Fine Gael Parliamentary Party statement – Chairman Martin Heydon

An Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader, Enda Kenny TD, has told a Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting that he will outline his future intentions after his trip to the US next month.
Fine Gael Party Chairman, Martin Heydon TD for Kildare South, said the Fine Gael party proceeds in “a united fashion”.

“The Taoiseach has addressed this issue and he will tell us of his intentions after his trip to the US next month.

“He has already said he will not lead Fine Gael into the next General Election. He reiterated that position again tonight (Wednesday). He has told us he will outline his intentions effectively and conclusively shortly after his return from the US.

“Fine Gael continues to focus on the important work of this Government with our coalition partners. Our motivation is the people of this country and the issues that matter to them. We continue to focus on implementing the Programme for Government,” Deputy Heydon said.

“Over 200,000 jobs have been created since 2012. Employment has dropped from more than 15pc to 6.8pc last month. We are now on course to achieving full employment which is remarkable considering where we were six years ago.

“There are international challenges coming with the United Kingdom leaving the European Union and a potentially changing European frontier. We are concentrating and working night and day on these issues. Fine Gael’s work continues,” Deputy Heydon added.

The meeting also heard from Deputy Jim Daly (Cork South West) on finding out future childcare needs through an ongoing survey available on https://www.finegael.ie/childcare/.

MEP Sean Kelly (South constituency) spoke about the ongoing work of Fine Gael MEPs in the European Union.

Minister of State for Communities and the National Drugs Strategy Catherine Byrne raised the proposed supervised injection centres legislation and Senator Jerry Buttimer addressed the recently established Tribunal of Inquiry and the necessity to keep costs low.