He was appointed party spokesperson firstly on Youth Affairs and Sport,[17] then Western Development; however, he failed to build a national profile as he concentrated more on constituency matters.

In spite of this, his national profile was raised as he served in a number of positions on the party's front bench, including Education, Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht, and the Islands.

Among Kenny's other achievements were the rejuvenation of the Saint Patrick's Day parade in Dublin,[citation needed] and the successful negotiations to bring a stage of the 1998 Tour de France to Ireland.

[23] At the 2002 general election, Fine Gael suffered its worst electoral performance ever, losing 23 seats, a figure larger than expected, with its share of the vote down 5%.

[24] In September 2002, Kenny was accused of making racist remarks after he used the word "nigger" in a joke relating to Patrice Lumumba, the assassinated first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Kenny wanted the incident to be suppressed and specifically asked journalists not to cite it, though the Sunday Independent newspaper reported his "chortling repetition of the inflammatory word".

[28] Kenny apologised unreservedly but insisted that there was no racist intent, and that he was merely quoting what a Moroccan barman had once said, while reminiscing about an incident he had witnessed in the company of his friend David Molony, whose sudden death had recently occurred.

[30] The Shell to Sea campaign that was founded to help release the men and get the government to change its mind shut down work on the project for fifteen months.

[34] Under Kenny, Fine Gael agreed to enter a pre-election pact with the Labour Party, to offer the electorate an alternative coalition government at the 2007 general election held on 24 May 2007.

[44][45] On the following day it was revealed that nine members of the Fine Gael frontbench did not have confidence in Kenny to lead their party – composed of Simon Coveney, Denis Naughten, Olwyn Enright, Olivia Mitchell, Fergus O'Dowd, Michael Creed, Billy Timmins, Leo Varadkar and Brian Hayes.

[52] In October 2010, Browne was forced to make a public apology to Kenny after jokingly asking whether Fine Gael was requesting that he go into a darkroom with a gun and a bottle of whisky.

At a victory party in Dublin, Kenny declared Fine Gael had "a massive endorsement" to govern, and the election marked "a transformative moment in Ireland's history".

The pension levy caused an immediate and intense outcry, leaving Kenny to defend the initiative as "a modest proposal" and refuting charges that the government would next tax personal savings.

[89][90] Among the approved reforms were a binding Constituency Commission scheduled for June 2011, with the specific purpose of reducing the number of TDs by up to 20;[89] an act to establish a six-month time limit for holding by-elections to the Dáil; a €750,000 spending limit in the 2011 presidential election; legislation to ban corporate donations, to be enacted by summer 2011; establishment of a Constitutional Convention in 2011, which was to include discussion of the future of the Seanad; and a referendum on its abolition, to be held in the second half of 2012.

The speech was widely regarded as extraordinary, with the Daily Mail commenting that the attack was "the first time that Ireland's Parliament has publicly castigated the Vatican instead of local church leaders during the country's 17 years of paedophile-priest scandals".

In a statement the publishers said they had chosen Kenny as the winner because of his "strong contribution to Europe and commitment to European ideals both as Prime Minister and throughout his many years in public life".

[109] They added that "In these difficult times, Europe benefits from the open, outward looking character of the Irish State and people and from the calibre of its Prime Minister, Enda Kenny.

"[107] To complete a string of awards in late 2012, on 10 December Kenny was one of 20 EU Leaders chosen to travel to Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the European Union.

[116] He told the Dáil that, as a result of the changes, there would be a €20 billion reduction in the borrowing requirement of the National Treasury Management Agency in the years ahead, but also cautioned that the agreement was not a "silver bullet".

[123] Three years after being saved from bankruptcy by a trio of international lenders with a €67.5bn loan (the so-called "troika"), in December 2013 Kenny's coalition government led Ireland out of the eurozone bailout programme, becoming the first country to do so.

[124] At the time, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal were still working through rescue programmes, which included external scrutiny of government budgets, while Spain had also received funds to recapitalise its banks.

[124] Having implemented spending cuts, asset sales and reforms required under the bailout, Ireland was embraced again by the debt markets that shut out the country at the turn of the decade.

[126] To mark the end of the Troika bailout in December 2013, Kenny gave a second address to the nation, saying that the country was moving in the right direction and that the economy was starting to recover.

[137] At a Fine Gael rally in his home town of Castlebar, County Mayo, on 20 February 2016, Kenny informed an audience that his local constituents were All-Ireland champion "whingers".

[143] Regarding the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Kenny went on record as saying the possibility of a "Brexit" would cause a "serious difficulty" with maintaining peace in Northern Ireland.

[149] On 20 March, Finance Minister Michael Noonan stated that Kenny should remain in office at least until June, when the next phase of EU Brexit negotiations was set to begin.

However, it was interpreted in sections of the US and UK media as a thinly veiled criticism of Trump's plans to ban immigration from certain Muslim countries and to build a wall along the Mexican border.

[155] Enda Kenny was credited with making the world's largest sports air dome, located just outside Knock, County Mayo, a financially feasible project.

The report stated that Kenny's attendance in the Dáil had been registered on 263 days during that period, and that he had claimed the full travel and accommodation allowance of €47,000 to which he was entitled, in addition to his salary.

[166] Kenny was said to have delivered "a wide-ranging and truly fascinating speech" in which "he spoke of many of the trials, tribulations and highlights of his career, giving the crowd both ample cause for reflection, as well as many moments of laughter.