The Front Pages
It’s D-Day for Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and former deputy leader Richard Bruton.
Both sides of the camp are predicting victory ahead of the crunch vote within the party, as detailed in the Irish Independent.
A narrow victory for Mr Kenny is probably the best he could wish for as he remains five votes short of the required majority 36 although there are still undecided members whose votes are being chased by both Mr Bruton and Mr Kenny. The FG leader’s hopes of surviving did suffer a setback yesterday.
The Irish Times explains that justice spokesman Charles Flanagan and acting finance spokesman Kieran O’Donnell have waded in with Mr Bruton. If Mr Kenny wins today he will elect a new frontbench on Monday although Mr Bruton and most of the leading opponents have ruled themselves out of consideration.
Meanwhile, a good news story grabs front headlines in both the Irish Examiner and the Indo.
“Separate – But Still a Team†reads the title in the Examiner. Hassan and Hussein Benhaffhaf, the conjoined twins who survived separation surgery ten weeks ago, were accorded a civic reception in Cork.
The miracle twins were born last December and were separated in London in April. Their mum Angie spoke of how her sons have adjusted.
“But they are just like any other babies now — feeding, changing, and pretty soon, they’ll be wrecking our heads,†she said.
