Enda Kenny | |
---|---|
Taoiseach | |
In office 9 March 2011 – 14 June 2017 | |
Tánaiste | Eamon Gilmore |
Preceded by | Brian Cowen |
Succeeded by | Leo Varadkar |
Leader of Fine Gael | |
In office 5 June 2002 – 2 June 2017 | |
Deputy | Richard Bruton James Reilly |
Preceded by | Michael Noonan |
Succeeded by | Leo Varadkar |
Minister for Tourism and Trade | |
In office 15 December 1994 – 6 June 1997 | |
Preceded by | Charlie McCreevy |
Succeeded by | Jim McDaid |
Teachta Dála | |
In office June 1997 – Febuary 2020 | |
Preceded by | Constituency established |
Constituency | Mayo |
In office November 1975 – June 1997 | |
Preceded by | Henry Kenny |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Constituency | Mayo West |
Personal details | |
Born | Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland | 24 April 1951
Political party | Fine Gael |
Spouse(s) | Fionnuala O'Kelly (m. 1992–present) |
Children | 1 daughter 2 sons |
Alma mater | St Patrick's College of Education, Dublin University College, Galway (UCG) |
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish Fine Gael politician. He was the Taoiseach from 2011 through 2017. Kenny has led Fine Gael from 2002 until his retirement in 2017. He served as Minister for Tourism and Trade from 1994 to 1997. He is also a two-term Vice President of the European People's Party.
Kenny has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Mayo since 1975, having succeeded his father Henry Kenny.[1] He is the longest-serving TD currently in Dáil Éireann, which makes him the incumbent Father of the Dáil.
Kenny led Fine Gael in the 2011 general election. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Labour Party and formed a coalition government on 9 March 2011.[2] He is Fine Gael's first Taoiseach since John Bruton from 1994 to 1997, and the first Fine Gael leader to win government in an election since Garret FitzGerald in 1982.
In May 2017, Kenny announced he will retire as Fine Gael leader and will resign as Taoiseach once a new leader is chosen.[3]