Anyone seen Enda Kenny?

handlemaster

I haven't heard from him in a few weeks, he's the leader of the main opposition party.

Sponge Bob

He is on oireachtas TV a lot of the time ...speaking in the Dáil like.

Sad Professor

His media appearances have been few and far between. In contrast, Noonan is everywhere. Given Kenny's lack of expertise in economic matters, he's probably been told to take a step back out of fear that he'll put his foot in it again.

handlemaster

My Sarcasm is obviously not coming through on the posting...

handlemaster

Sad Professor wrote: »

His media appearances have been few and far between. In contrast, Noonan is everywhere. Given Kenny's lack of expertise in economic matters, he's probably been told to take a step back out of fear that he'll put his foot in it again.

I'd aggree with that one. Can you actually imagine Kenny as Taoiseach. Thats the last thing this country needs another incoherent leader.

Mountjoy Mugger

What's your point?

Anonymous1987

Funnily enough, his lack of media appearances have improved his support

"Enda Kenny has also jumped two points, and was the choice of 25% of people polled."
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1202/politics.html

Maybe it has finally occurred to him that he is a liability to Fine Gael.

Dannyboy83

It called Leadership, knowing when to step back and let your team take over, knowing your strengths & weaknesses, knowing when to delegate, not needing to be at the forefront of everything all the time.

The reason it seems odd to the Irish electorate is because we are used to the Fianna Fail dictator thingy

Euro_Kraut

Anonymous1987 wrote: »

Maybe it has finally occurred to him that he is a liability to Fine Gael.

I think you are right. A different leader (e.g. Bruton) would give FG a bounce of about 4%-5% in the polls. At 38%, with FF bombing and the opposition fracture that would be enough to give FG an overall majority.


Having said that he is likely to become Taoiseach in the next couple of months.

Euro_Kraut

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

It called Leadership, knowing when to step back and let your team take over, knowing your strengths & weaknesses, knowing when to delegate, not needing to be at the forefront of everything all the time.

The reason it seems odd to the Irish electorate is because we are used to the Fianna Fail dictator thingy

FG poll ratings went down in this poll so that doesn't really stack up. His own personal rating went up from a very low base. This might suggest that the less people see of him the less likely the are to dislike him. It's hardly 'leadership'.

Dannyboy83

Euro_Kraut wrote: »

FG poll ratings went down in this poll so that doesn't really stack up. His own personal rating went up from a very low base. This might suggest that the less people see of him the less likely the are to dislike him. It's hardly 'leadership'.

Public opinion is fickle.
You can do the right thing for the country and they'll hate you.
Or you can do the wrong thing for the country and they'll love you. (Lynch 77, Ahern/Benchmarking 07 etc)

Wear a pair of yellow pants and they'll laugh at you.
Not have a bank account while minister for finance and opinion polls improve.

As regards leadership/delegation
See:
Stalin/Zhukov
Hitler/Guderian/Rommel
etc. etc.
Not a new concept.

Sad Professor

It depends also on how you see the role of Taoiseach. Chairman vs chief, etc. Kenny would make a lousy chief, but he might make a decent chairman. i.e. appoint a good team and listen to them, rather than appoint his buddies and tell them what to do. But given the frequent cries from the public and media over the last couple of years for Cowen to make "a state of the nation address" and rally the Irish people to his side etc etc, I don't think a chairman is what people want right now, but maybe it would be for the best.

Anonymous1987

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

It called Leadership, knowing when to step back and let your team take over, knowing your strengths & weaknesses, knowing when to delegate, not needing to be at the forefront of everything all the time.

I actually agree with you that the above are Kenny's strongest points but at the end of the day the electorate haven't taking a liking to him, hence the heave against him despite Kenny seemingly commanding respect within the party. Unfortunately the electorate don't seem to trust Kenny to serve in their best interests or elso they just plain don't like him. It's hard to say at this point whether he would be an effective "chairman" Taoiseach although like I said there seems to be positive signs from within his party.

Personally though I would be concerned about his ability to understand with any great depth the economic issues of the day when inevitably the electorate and his party will hold him most responsible for the decisions to be taken.

Dannyboy83

Sad Professor wrote: »

It depends also on how you see the role of Taoiseach. Chairman vs chief, etc. Kenny would make a lousy chief, but he might make a decent chairman. i.e. appoint a good team and listen to them, rather than appoint his buddies and tell them what to do. But given the frequent cries from the public and media over the last couple of years for Cowen to make "a state of the nation address" and rally the Irish people to his side etc etc, I don't think a chairman is what people want right now, but maybe it would be for the best.

Precisely.
When it comes to technical matters, sometimes I've needed to tell managers to stop speaking. They were still managing the operation tho.

This post summed it up quite well for me:

sunflower27 wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=69283228#post69283228
Sorry for my ignorance... I'm not Irish although have lived here for the guts of 10 years.

Does he have any finance background? Or does he merely skip from portfolio to portfolio sprouting bull****. I mean... Health and Children, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the Department of Education and Science. Errrr hello? Surely he can't have any real understanding of ALL these portfolios!!!!!!

Is it any wonder the country is f*cked

waxon-waxoff

Enda has been handed a poisoned chalice. Years waiting to get the big job and now its arriving and its an impossible task. He has no charisma and the public cant warm to him. I hope he surprises us all, for the countries sake.

Does anybody think a Labour/FG government will do a better job than the last? I wish they could but i doubt it. The EU/IMF will dictate alot of what goes on. FG say they will sort out the public sector but Labour will resist it to protect their union friends. The opposition parties are just as bad for cronyism in local councils as FF so dont expect that to change overnight either. George Lee may be gone but hopefully some of the other economists we have seen on tv lately will be persuaded to run for election.

supersean1999

handlemaster wrote: »

My Sarcasm is obviously not coming through on the posting...

he will be a rubbish leader . he is to clean, and is not from dublin or close to it, ps i hope my sarcasm is coming through

phantom_lord

expectationlost

leadership = knowing when to speak up neither cowen or kenny have it

pawrick

He was sitting beside me yesterday on the train if that help?

femur61

I will vote FG not because Enda appeals to me in fact he comes across as stupid sometimes. But the fact that they will sort out the PS appeals to me so much. I agree Labour will resist, but maybe the EU/IMF will have influence and bring about the much desired change.