It’s all Fine Gael on the front of this morning’s broadsheets as Leader Enda Kenny seeks to rebuild the party following a turbulent week that has to have done serious damage to the Blueshirts’ reputation.
‘Pressure on Kenny to bring back Bruton’ screams the headline on the front of today’s Irish Independent. The paper reports that Kenny has been advised by senior figures within the party that having Bruton in his new look front bench, possibly with an education portfolio, is an essential move despite the fact that the former party spokesman for finance expressed a lack of confidence in the Mayo man’s leadership qualities.
The Irish Times leads with the headline, ‘Noonan says he is willing to serve on front bench for Kenny’. Limerick TD, Michael Noonan was leader of Fine Gael for an ill-fated twelve month period back in 2001 and 2002 and had previously served as finance spokesperson for the party for two separate periods, between 1987 and 1993 and again between 1997 and 2001.
It has been speculated that Noonan could resume as finance spokesperson but the Times reports that Noonan said, ‘he does not want to talk about any specific role other than a willingness to serve’.
The Irish Examiner’s leading story is a world away from events in Leinster House. ‘De Paper’s’ headline, ‘Sex with a Child: 2 Years. Stealing at Work: 4 Years’ refers to the fact that numerous child sex offenders in this country have been given sentences as low as 2 years, while a post office manager who stole €22,000 to feed his gambling addiction was given double that sentence.
The Examiner carries quotes from the head of Barnardos, Fergus Finlay, who suggested that these examples of inconsistent sentencing suggested that society had come to value society more than children. ‘It’s absolutely essential that the judiciary send out a message that you cannot abuse a child with impunity’, he said.
