Enda Kenny Quotes

The E.U. needs renewal, and we need a strong U.K. at the table to help to drive the reform agenda that can help the union regain competitiveness and growth.

- Enda Kenny

I'm a big fan of Springsteen. Obviously, his social commentary is very powerful for me. I like his album 'The Rising.' It's not a new one, but it sticks in my mind because of what it says to me.

- Enda Kenny

Populist promises to reverse every tough decision are nothing but empty rhetoric, irresponsible leadership, and bad politics. They are not the solution to Ireland's problems.

- Enda Kenny

Foreign investors like decisiveness; they like clarity. There isn't any confusion about Ireland's corporate tax rate: it is 12.5%. End of story.

- Enda Kenny

Irish research will contribute to global progress and have the potential to help all countries realise the potential of their land sectors in addressing climate change - this means reducing emissions, adapting to impacts, and enhancing and improving carbon sinks.

- Enda Kenny

Building on our strong track record of supporting developing countries, including in areas like climate justice, human rights, gender and education, Ireland recognises that vulnerable communities need very considerable assistance in adapting to climate change.

- Enda Kenny

I now know what to do; I know how decisions can be made. I know how you can drive ministers and their departments to actually make decisions and bring results.

- Enda Kenny

You're not going to be able to deliver jobs locally unless you sort out the nation's problems, and that's why the big and difficult decisions about Ireland's economy have been so crucial and so difficult for people to have to accept and have to deal with, but the reality is the people gave this government an unprecedented mandate.

- Enda Kenny

I intend to serve a full term as Taoiseach.

- Enda Kenny

I don't like to see people on trolleys in hospitals; I don't like to see old people sitting in chairs for hours.

- Enda Kenny

We have a very long legal system with the European Union, and we're English speaking.

- Enda Kenny

My genuine belief is that if we can get through the eurozone crisis from a political point of view, we've got a lot of engines that can drive our economy, that will restore confidence and get us moving on.

- Enda Kenny

I accept the verdict of the people.

- Enda Kenny

My job is to rectify the public finances and hand the country back to the people so they can really have a future, and that is what I will do.

- Enda Kenny

I think - whether it's music, literature, sport, art, whatever you want - there's nobody who can stop us if we only apply ourselves with the singular objective of being the best in the world.

- Enda Kenny

Respectability in this country was a bad word because people did things who were in respected professions that let down the entire nation, and we're washing away their sins yet.

- Enda Kenny

I have no interest in the trappings of power.

- Enda Kenny

We've got enormous potential, phenomenal potential on our doorstep, which requires politics that makes that work, and that's what we try to show here in Ireland: that while there's a lot of pain, the reward at the end of this is career opportunities, prosperity, and brighter days for everybody.

- Enda Kenny

Our common membership of the E.U. provided an important external context to the Irish and U.K. governments working together for peace. It should not be discounted lightly.

- Enda Kenny

By far, the greatest contribution Ireland can make is to lead by example, by actively pursuing its own transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy.

- Enda Kenny

Clericalism has rendered some of Ireland's brightest, most privileged and powerful men either unwilling or unable to address the horrors cited in the Ryan and Murphy Reports.

- Enda Kenny

The revelations of the Cloyne report have brought the government, Irish Catholics, and the Vatican to an unprecedented juncture.

- Enda Kenny

We have so much discrimination in this world - colour, race, creed, all of these things - and there is an issue here that the right of marriage in the civil law is not extended to same-sex couples.

- Enda Kenny

If somebody says, 'I am a gay person, and I want to get married,' is their own family going to deny them that? Are our own fellow citizens going to deny them that?

- Enda Kenny

If you were to do it again, you'd probably do some things differently. But the decision is right to have a single entity manage the water and the waste water for a country.

- Enda Kenny

For years, Ireland used to have a philosophy of 'Get them in here to invest and develop in Ireland, and this will sort out our problems.' It is good in the sense of building a trade surplus, but we also want to develop what it is that we offer ourselves and that Irish companies export abroad.

- Enda Kenny

My relationship with Alan Shatter is a professional relationship: obviously worked with him over the years, complimented him for his work as a reforming minister, and move on.

- Enda Kenny

One of the key drivers of Ireland's future is our balance of trade surplus.

- Enda Kenny

The lion's share of the damage to the Irish economy was the fault of domestic, economic, and financial mismanagement.

- Enda Kenny

By 2007, an uncompetitive, bloated, over-borrowed and distorted Irish economy had been left at the mercy of subsequent international events without the safeguards, institutions, and mindset needed to survive and prosper as a small open economy inside the euro area.

- Enda Kenny

For me, it is all about people having jobs, and that is why I make no apology for having focused relentlessly on employment and job creation.

- Enda Kenny

I enjoy his concerts and OK, maybe - I can't sing, I can't dance, I can't play the guitar, but I am going to go a long way if I keep following Springsteen.

- Enda Kenny

Failure to curb temperature increases will impact all countries, Ireland included, but with the most immediate and drastic effects being felt, in many instances, by the most vulnerable countries and communities.

- Enda Kenny

The U.K. and Ireland are like-minded on E.U. matters, and the process of working together in Brussels has built an immense store of knowledge, personal relationships, and trust between our governments.

- Enda Kenny

I have never been on the trail of developers or contractors.

- Enda Kenny

The world has changed utterly. There was a time when you couldn't marry a Protestant. There was a time when you got married that the women had to give up their job in the public service, and when they got married, they were owned by their husbands. That's all changed.

- Enda Kenny

The decision of a majority of people in the United Kingdom to vote to leave the European Union is profoundly disappointing.

- Enda Kenny

In Ireland here, the Revenue Commission have always been completely independent of the state since 1923, and they are quite adamant and quite clear that there was no preferential treatment and no special deals, no sweetheart deals, and that Apple paid the taxes that were due on their profits generated here in this country.

- Enda Kenny

I am a big believer in Springsteen, I like his social comment; I like the commitment he puts into his work.

- Enda Kenny

People put dates on any kind of comment that you make.

- Enda Kenny

Irish people are pragmatic. They understand that nobody is going to fix our problems but ourselves.

- Enda Kenny

I would never accuse the Irish people of being in any way stupid.

- Enda Kenny

To me, the real opinion polls are the tangible facts: the growing creation of jobs, the number of planning permissions, the number of commercial vans being sold - the signs that the Irish people are regaining confidence.

- Enda Kenny

COP 21 provides a unique opportunity for the political leaders of this generation to provide lasting foundations for the preservation and sustainability of generations of the future.

- Enda Kenny

My experience would say to me, never presume to have an answer to what the people are actually going to do.

- Enda Kenny

We must ensure that more binding, durable, and enforceable fiscal rules go hand-in-hand with funding certainty for countries pursuing sound and sustainable economic policies. We need to keep pushing forward towards a comprehensive solution to the challenges of the eurozone.

- Enda Kenny

Our priority will be to look after the interests of our own country and its citizens.

- Enda Kenny

There will be no hard border from Dundalk to Derry in the context of it being a European border, and by that I mean customs posts every mile along the road.

- Enda Kenny

The re-establishment of a hard border on the island of Ireland would be a step backwards and present an opportunity for others, with malign agendas, to exploit for destructive purposes.

- Enda Kenny

You have a responsibility as a locally elected deputy, but you also have a responsibility as the head of government.

- Enda Kenny

The Seanad question was one element of a process of change and reform to politics that government has been pursuing.

- Enda Kenny

I've often said it: that it is seen to be a place of energy, of excitement, of enthusiasm. That there's something about Ireland.

- Enda Kenny

Public confidence in, and support for, the euro - and, indeed, the European Union - will ultimately be determined by how well we deliver on growth and jobs rather than on institutional wrangling and complex legal or technical negotiations.

- Enda Kenny

You need to talk to people, and you need to hear what it is they have to say.

- Enda Kenny

We have spent our time in government fixing the economy.

- Enda Kenny

We link our future to the euro, to the euro zone, and to the European Union while being the nearest neighbor of the United Kingdom with, obviously, a common travel area and a very close working relationship with the U.K.

- Enda Kenny

No politician in a European sense is happy with 26 million people unemployed. Nobody can be happy with 6 to 9 million young people unemployed. You have to give them hope and confidence and a sense of inspiration that the European process is actually about people, not about bureaucracy.

- Enda Kenny

We need to work together towards a mutually beneficial solution for Ireland, the U.K., and for Europe.

- Enda Kenny

I don't take myself too seriously, but I take the job very seriously, and I expect people to do the job that they're given because this is about all our people, young and old, and it's an enormous responsibility.

- Enda Kenny

My job starts at a quarter to seven in the morning, and you go right through until whatever time is necessary to finish up.

- Enda Kenny

As leader of the Fine Gael Party, I will also use our position in the European People's Party to clearly state our views with our European political partners.

- Enda Kenny

I didn't go on a campaign of developers asking, 'Please give me money.'

- Enda Kenny

For too long, Ireland has neglected its children.

- Enda Kenny

Ireland cannot become the collector general for the world. We can only tax on profits generated in the country here.

- Enda Kenny

I am proud that Ireland is playing its part to drive an ambitious and comprehensive agreement at COP21.

- Enda Kenny

Down the country, people in rural areas are struggling to get a speed of even 1 MB, not much better than the old dial-up system we used to have when the system was in relative infancy.

- Enda Kenny

Our revenue commissions are very happy and very clear that they showed no sweetheart deals and no preference for any company and never do and never have and never will.

- Enda Kenny

I have never had an interest in opinion polls. They are merely an indicator, that's all.

- Enda Kenny

Emigration is always a difficulty.

- Enda Kenny

I think 'austerity' is a much abused word. I prefer to call it 'fiscal discipline' or financial, 'financial competency.'

- Enda Kenny

Rather than just saying, like, 'Your economy is the be all and end all,' I go back to my three roots that I've often said about this being best country for business, the best to raise a family in, and the best to grow old in with a sense of dignity and respect.

- Enda Kenny

It is the young people in whom I place my confidence because of their competence, because of their enthusiasm, because of their capacity to meet the frontiers that are changing every week.

- Enda Kenny

We'll look after our hospitals. We'll look after our schools. We'll look after our infrastructure.

- Enda Kenny

People tell me their own stories about how they have come through great difficulty.

- Enda Kenny

If people want to follow an illusion that you don't have to pay your way, you don't have to measure up, then there are serious consequences for any country.

- Enda Kenny

You see, in government, people give you a mandate, and you've got to fulfil that. Ours is very clear. Fix our public finances and get our country working.

- Enda Kenny

I am perfectly clear in my mind and in my conscience in respect of freedom of religious principles and beliefs.

- Enda Kenny

Sometimes in politics, you get a wallop in the electoral process.

- Enda Kenny

The best recording is the one you bring with you in your mind.

- Enda Kenny

What I do like is action, achievements, and results. Getting things done.

- Enda Kenny

We are going to serve our full term; there will be no snap election, and we are going to do our best to ensure that 2016 is going to be a good economic year.

- Enda Kenny

It is about time county councils got back into the business of providing houses.

- Enda Kenny

Conservation is important... water comes at a cost.

- Enda Kenny

Under no circumstances will I allow the Fianna Fail party back into government. They wrecked the economy twice.

- Enda Kenny

The Constitution says that the right to life of the unborn is protected and given equal rights as the life of the mother.

- Enda Kenny

Cloyne's revelations are heart-breaking.

- Enda Kenny

We'll look after the people who create jobs and business and give them that opportunity to grow in the time ahead.

- Enda Kenny

People understand that you have to do difficult things to sort out our own public finances.

- Enda Kenny

I just think that the older you get, the more you appreciate the responsibility of politics.

- Enda Kenny