Kenny 'has no plan' for Brexit fallout
Enda Kenny is facing a growing backlash over claims he has “no plan” to cope with the escalating Brexit crisis and has “sat on his hands” as the situation unfolded,
Opposition parties and Government backbenchers made the accusation as fears mount Ireland could become a makeweight in the EU’s battle with Britain.
Speaking before flying to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today to meet leading company CEOs to convince them to transfer their bases from London to Dublin, Mr Kenny insisted he has a plan to address the crisis.
However, despite the claim and Fine Gael organising grassroots public meetings over the coming days to assuage concerns among communities at risk of a Brexit fallout, he and his Government were rounded on by rivals for failing to spell out their strategy.
In the Dáil, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said Mr Kenny has “no plan” to cope with the potential economic fallout caused by Brexit and risk of a hard border returning with Northern Ireland.
Claiming Mr Kenny has “sat on his hands” and “awaited breathlessly the utterance of prime minister Theresa May”, Ms McDonald said “at this 11th hour, [he] has no discernible plan, vision or direction, all he has done is repeat a list of issues”.
Mr Kenny rejected the remark and repeated that his Government’s priority is to protect the economy, jobs and the soft border.
However, a number of Fine Gael backbenchers said they shared Ms McDonald’s concerns, while Fianna Fáil jobs spokesman Niall Collins said Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor has been “nowhere to be seen” since Ms May’sspeech on Tuesday.
The Department of Jobs yesterday said it is continuing to work behind the scenes on a plan to protect Irish businesses, adding it is open to opposition calls for a special State aid fund to be made available for firms at risk of a Brexit fallout.
However, lashing out at the “silence” from Ms Mitchell O’Connor, who is responsible for Ireland’s trade policy, Mr Collins said despite the “talk of playing a good game”, businesses do not know “if anyone is in charge”.
The ongoing criticism came as Mr Kenny, Finance Minister Michael Noonan, and IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan prepare to meet leading companies today during vital talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The Taoiseach is due to hold individual discussions with the chief executive of the Lloyds of London bank, the BT Group, Bank of America, IBM, drugs giant MSD, US telecoms giant AT&T, and others, before attending a high-profile address by Ms May.
Fine Gael has announced a series of Brexit meetings over the coming days.
Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar and Housing Minister Simon Coveney will speak at a separate events in Mullingar and Drogheda tonight.
Meanwhile, relations between the European Union and Britain continued to deteriorate yesterday after British foreign secretary Boris Johnson accused French president François Hollande of acting like Second World War prison guards seeking “punishment beatings” for anyone who tried to leave after Mr Hollande called for the EU to take a hard-line stance.
