Kenny running scared from serious debate – Curran

Responding to Enda Kenny’s bizarre statement on election debates Chief Whip John Curran T.D. said: Just four months ago Deputy Kenny enjoyed lots of headlines when he claimed “It doesn’t matter to me whether the leaders’ debate is between two, three, or four people, or where it takes place.”  However, on the eve of one of the most important election campaigns in the history of the State, Deputy Kenny has decided that the Irish people should not be given the serious and substantial debates that they want and deserve.

“The argument that he will be too busy canvassing is phoney and an insult to people’s intelligence.  The fact that it took his handlers a full 18 hours to come up with it gives a good sense of the concern within the Fine Gael party at the capacity of its Leader to engage in serious debate and stand before the Irish people on his own two feet.”

“If Fine Gael is determined to support Sinn Fein and the Green Party’s position in a 5 way debate, we can look at that, but it does not replace the need for serious debate between the leaders of the three main parties.”

Minister Curran added: “Fine Gael’s silence on the need for head to head debates between party leaders is also interesting.  With the leaders of both the Labour Party and Fianna Fáil now agreeing in principle with the importance of this format, surely Fine Gael’s ‘Hide Enda’ strategy has become untenable?”