Lobbying Battle Over 'Confidence' In Kenny

Ireland's Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny has launched a campaign of intensive lobbying after nine members of the frontbench said they no longer have confidence in his leadership.

Tomorrow, Mr Kenny faces his own vote of no confidence after the Taoiseach Brian Cowen scraped through a Daíl wide vote of confidence by five votes yesterday.

Mr Kenny and his main rival, former Deputy Leader Richard Bruton who was sacked by Kenny on Monday, are lobbying the members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party with the outcome of the new vote hinging on who will be the party's next leader, and potentially the future Taoiseach.

Party chairman Padraic McCormack, who will chair a crucial party meeting tomorrow, said a contested leadership election would take some time. “This is uncharted water and is completely new,” he said.

Both sides are expected to increase efforts to secure a majority among the 70 members of the parliamentary party. However, it is believed that nine of the 18 sitting on the influential front bench are supporting Mr Bruton's campaign for the leadership.

However, during an interview on RTÉ's Six-One News, Mr Kenny attempted to entice some of his opponents, suggesting there might find places for them in a new look frontbench to be unveiled next week.

Both the Kenny and Bruton sides claim they have secured a majority of the 70-strong parliamentary party.

The Fine Gael party has been topping the electoral polls for over a year, and an extensive and bitter leadership campaign is expected to damage the party's chances of success in the next Daíl election.

(DW/BMcC)