Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny yesterday called for a change of government with a new mandate to take the country in a new direction.

"The reality has grown clearer and clearer with every passing day of this current economic crisis," he said. "There is no coherence, no competence and no confidence emerging from Government as they lurch from one ill informed and incorrect decision to another. The economic crisis we are facing today was created not because Fianna Fáil policies failed, but because they succeeded." He was speaking at the annual conference of Young Fine Gael in Athlone.