Enda Kenny: sought one-to-one meetings with all members of the Fine Gael parliamentary party

THERE is unlikely to be a challenge to Enda Kenny's leadership of Fine Gael unless there is serious slippage in the party's poll ratings in the coming months, according to party figures.

Recent poor performances by Kenny on the Late Late Show and on Newstalk have caused disquiet and grumblings in the party, particularly among backbenchers, and have led to renewed speculation about his leadership.

However, there is huge respect for Kenny's achievement in bringing the party back from the brink to overtake Fianna Fáil in the polls. He is also very well liked and there is a reluctance in Fine Gael to return to the leadership heaves that split the party in the decade up to Kenny taking over.

"There is no one aspiring to take him out. There is a distinct difference between criticism and a heave," one leading party figure said. "There are grumblings in the party but that is all there is."

Another well-placed source told the Sunday Tribune that, while there had been a "devastating reaction" to Kenny's Late Late Show performance, there would be no move against him.

However, they acknowledge this could change if there was serious slippage in Fine Gael in the polls although they stress that they do not see this happening, even with the recent slight recovery in Fianna Fáil's ratings.

"There are a number of people very much making shapes who would have been die-hard supporters of Enda's 12 months ago. People are becoming disillusioned with him, but nothing will happen immediately," one Fine Gael backbencher said.

"If last week's poll is the beginning of a trend, I have no doubt people will do it. People are self-interested in their own political careers and if they see cabinet seats starting to slip away, then a group of frontbench personnel will make moves against Enda," the TD warned.

This was endorsed by another source close to the party, who claimed "it wouldn't take much to trigger it".

However, senior figures play down such suggestions, pointing to the party's strong performance in the Euro and local elections and its consistently good opinion-poll ratings. They also insist that the frontbench is solidly behind Kenny, particularly his obvious successor Richard Bruton, who will not do anything to undermine Kenny's leadership.

Kenny has reportedly sought one-to-one meetings with all members of the parliamentary party, but party figures said there was no significance to that.

One view expressed in the party is that Kenny needs to play to his strengths, as chairman – or the captain of a team of strong performers – rather than a political chief.