'I had my chance': Simon Coveney rules himself out of running for Fine Gael leadership
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Simon Coveney has firmly ruled himself out of running for the leadership of Fine Gael.
Mr Coveney, who unsuccessfully ran for leader in 2017 when Leo Varadkar was elected, confirmed he would not be standing to replace the Taoiseach, who announced his shock resignation on Wednesday morning.
"I made a decision quite some time ago that I wouldn't stand in another leadership race. I had my chance and wasn't successful," Mr Coveney told RTÉ News.
Mr Coveney said that the party will be voting over the next two or three weeks to replace Mr Varadkar.
“That process will now take its course. If there’s more than one candidate, there’ll be hustings around the country. We believe we can get all of this done in the space of 18 or 19 days.
Mr Coveney said he did not have a preferred candidate.
“My job is to make sure we deal with this in a way which is calm and professional and done on time.”
A new Fine Gael leader will be elected in advance of the party's Ard Fheis on April 6.
Speaking outside Government Buildings this morning, Mr Varadkar said that he had done "some soul searching" and that the "time is now" for him to step down.
"I know, inevitably, there will be speculation as to the ‘real reason’ for my decision. These are the real reasons. That’s it. I have nothing else lined up or in mind. No definite personal or political plans, but I am looking forward to having the time to think about them," he said.
Speaking on Wednesday evening, Mr Varadkar said he had not made that decision whether he would run in the next general election.
“I’m certainly not resigning my seat or anything like that,” he said.
“I look forward to taking up a role in the backbenches. I’ll be knocking on doors, I’ll be dropping leaflets, we’ve a good strong constituency in Dublin West.
“We’ll be sitting down with the political team there and mapping a way forward — but too big a decision to make today.”
Asked whether he would be interested in being Ireland’s next EU commissioner, he said: “It’s not for me. More than seven years now of long days, late evenings and most weekends and an awful lot of travel, I need to stop that for a while.” He added: “I have no CVS printed, I have not been looking around.”
He added that he made the decision to step aside “definitively” at the weekend.
“But obviously, I’d been weighing it up since Christmas/New Year but definitively only at the weekend. But I think once you decide that you don’t want to stay on, you can’t say on because it requires everything.” He added: “I was prepared in my own head for this for a couple of days, maybe even a couple of weeks, but I know for a lot of colleagues it’s kind of come as a surprise.
“But the fact that I’m stepping down as leader of Fine Gael doesn’t mean I’m leaving Fine Gael and I’m not leaving the Dáil either. I just look forward to making my contribution and in a different way.
“Thirteen years is a long time between the Cabinet table and seven years Taoiseach and Tánaiste, I’m just very grateful for the wonderful opportunities that I had to serve and I just want to be the guy who helps out now.”