The Taoiseach will have to contend with a hundred or so councillors on the west coast who are ready to take him on, according to the leader of the Fianna Fáil group on Clare County Council.
Councillor PJ Kelly was reacting to a memo circulated to some Fianna Fáil TDs and councillors in the west.
It stated that the Government's refusal to interfere in Aer Lingus's decision to withdraw from its Shannon/Heathrow route served to protect the airline's share price during a turbulent week on the stock market.
Cllr Kelly, a former chairman of the local authority, has described the memo, which also claimed that the Aer Lingus Shannon/Heathrow route had been in decline for several years, as a "silly document designed to take our eye off the ball in relation to the Shannon issue but which failed abysmally". He said the document, entitled Key Facts on Shannon/Heathrow Issue, "could have been issued by the PR department of Aer Lingus".
"And I would say, the Taoiseach will not have to look as far as Fine Gael or Labour for opposition . . . because he will have to contend with a hundred or so councillors on the west coast who are bloody ready to take him on," Cllr Kelly said.