Coveney's FG leadership hopes fade — McEntee or Harris to replace Varadkar
Justice Minister Helen McEntee and Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris. File picture: Maxwells
Simon Coveney’s chances of becoming Fine Gael leader appear all but over as Simon Harris and Helen McEntee are in a two-horse race to succeed Leo Varadkar.
Following a bruising year for the party and amid mounting concern about the prolonged criminal investigation into Mr Varadkar’s leaking of the GP contract to his friend, the has conducted a detailed sample of the party.
According to answers from 35 of the 55 TDs, senators and MEPs who make up the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Mr Harris, the higher education minister and Ms McEntee, the justice minister, are best placed to succeed Mr Varadkar.
Despite Mr Coveney, the foreign affairs minister, challenging Mr Varadkar for the leadership in 2017, and winning the grassroots college of the vote by 2 to 1 over his leader, his mishandling of several issues, including the Katherine Zappone affair, have severely dented his prospects.
The breakdown of our sample is as follows:
- Some 11 members, or 31%, said they were backing Simon Harris.
- Eight members, or 22%, said they were backing Helen McEntee.
- Two members said they would be happy to see either Ms McEntee or Mr Harris assume the leadership.
- Four members, or 11%, said they were backing Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.
- Three, or 8%, said they were backing Mr Coveney.
- A new name, that of junior minister Peter Burke, has emerged as a potential future leader, with two members, or 6%, backing him. It must also be said a larger number of TDs and senators said they want to see Mr Burke in Cabinet.
- Five members, or 14%, said they did not wish to speculate as to who the future leader would be at this time.
Very few, if any, are of the view that Mr Varadkar’s position is in any danger, but virtually all said prospective candidates are “jockeying for position”.
Several members told the that Mr Harris is “unashamedly” clear about his intentions and ambition while Ms McEntee is “less overt” about her movements.
Mr Donohoe, who has repeatedly denied any interest in the top job, has also seen his stock within the party diminish in the wake of his perceived mishandling of the Fine Gael general election campaign in 2020, when he was director. The party lost 15 seats on that occasion.
Our report comes as a new opinion poll finds support for Fine Gael has dropped by a point to 20%, its lowest score in 17 years.
Sinn Féin remains the most popular political party, according to the /Red C poll which also suggests that Fianna Fáil is enjoying a rise in support among voters.
Support for Sinn Féin is at 33% while Fianna Fáil, led by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, has risen by two points to 17%. The Green Party has also dropped by a point to 5%.
The new poll gives the Social Democrats 4%, Labour and Solidarity/People Before Profit 3%, Aontú 2%, and independent TDs 11%.
