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You are > Home > Enda pointing the car towards Kerry
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Enda pointing the car towards Kerry
BY DONAL HICKEY
THE name, Kelly, has become synonymous with success, in Kerry, and sure enough embattled Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had a Kelly by his side when he faced the media after last week’s leadership vote.
As the TV cameras closed in on Kenny, outside Leinster House, MEP Seán Kelly positioned himself at the party leader’s right shoulder, getting in ahead of other jostling FG politicians who all wanted to share triumphant moments of glory.
Along with veteran Kerry North FG TD Jimmy Deenihan, Seán Kelly was one of most vocal of Kenny’s supporters in the run-up to the vote.
Both were prominent on the national media while Deputy Tom Sheahan and Senator Paul Coghlan also supported Kenny. But there was probably a bigger Kelly angle to this story than might have been realised.
While Seán Kelly is undoubtedly a good man to have on your side, his first cousin, Fionnuala, who is Kenny’s wife, must have been crucial player behind the scenes.
She was once press officer with Fianna Fail, back in the Haughey days when heaves were almost as common as Kerry appearing in All-Ireland finals.
You know the story about there being a woman behind every successful man – Fionnuala is a splendid example of that.
Indeed, the Kenny camp may have learnt something from the way Charlie Haughey beat off internal Fianna Fail moves to shaft him.
The Fine Gael spin in Kerry, at present, is that Kenny as Taoiseach would be good for the county.
For starters, he knows the county well, spends some of his annual holidays in Killarney and the Kelly connection is certainly no black eye to him.
There’s also the probability of a Fine Gael minister in Kerry should he become Taoiseach.
Jimmy Deenihan, who has worked hard as a deputy for Kerry North since being elected in 1987, is the man most likely to get a car and make Kenny’s first team.
The corner back from Finuge operates politically in much the same way as he did on the football field – solid, reliable, tight marking, tough and someone that keeps his cool when others tend to lose theirs.
Deenihan could competently fill the agriculture, or defence, portfolio.
Tom Sheahan is also being mentioned as a potential minister, but he is still a relative newcomer to the political scene and may have enough on his plate to ward pretenders to this throne in Kerry South.
As we mentioned in last week’s column, Kerry is currently suffering because we don’t have a voice at the cabinet table and it would come a major disappointment if a Blue Shirt/Labour coalition did not give at least one car to the county.
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