Fianna Fáil ministers have denied Brian Cowen’s leadership is under threat amid reports of widespread disquiet among backbenchers.
Fianna Fáil TDs Sean Power, Galway’s Noel O’Flynn and rebel Tipperary South deputy Mattie McGrath have publicly expressed concerns about Mr Cowen’s leadership in recent days following a series of poor opinion poll results.
The parliamentary party meets tomorrow night amid growing unease over the Taoiseach’s leadership style and concern at the Government’s narrowing majority.
Despite the rumblings, Mr Cowen today insisted the focus of everyone in the party was on convincing the electorate that the policies being pursued were the right ones. He said he was leading a Government united in securing the country’s future.
“The party has been extraordinarily disciplined in my opinion and been prepared to take on and support these difficult measures we’ve had to implement in various budgets, which are not easy,” Mr Cowen said.
“But I think that the view of the party is that Government have a responsibility and a job to do and we have to get on with doing it,” he said at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Farmleigh. “My job is to continue to lead the party in that effort and that’s what I intend to do.
“We have to get on with the job, we have to secure people’s future, secure this country’s future, and I lead a Government that is united and determined in that purpose.”
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern today dismissed suggestions the dissent amounted to a threat to Mr Cowen's leadership, saying “the last thing the country needed was political upheaval”. Mr Ahern said speculation "just takes attention away from the important issues and we won’t be diverted from those".
Minister for Enterprise Batt O'Keeffe urged party members to pull together for the sake of the country, saying it was not “a time for in-fighting”.
Chief whip John Curran said the party’s poor poll ratings “had to be put in the context of the difficult and challenging issues" being faced by the Government.
"We have made decisions that by any stretch of the imagination weren't popular but they were the right ones and I think, in doing that, the Taoiseach has clearly demonstrated his leadership capacity," Mr Curran told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
The weekly meeting of the parliamentary party is scheduled to hear a presentation from general secretary Seán Dorgan on the state of the organisation on the ground, along with analysis of recent unfavourable opinion polls.
Cork North-Central TD Noel O’Flynn said he would be challenging Mr Cowen directly at tomorrow's meeting. “I want to know how the Taoiseach is going to lift his own popularity and the popularity of the party," he said.
Kildare TD Sean Power today repeated his criticism of Mr Cowen's stewardship, saying he was not happy with the leadership being provided. “If Brian Cowen wants or intends to continue leading the Fianna Fáil party and leading this country as Taoiseach he will have his direction and strategy,” he told KildareFM this morning.
Mr Power said he was very disappointed with Mr Cowen’s performance as leader, suggesting that he was prone to reacting to situations “rather then being proactive”.
Acknowledging the party needed a new message, Mr Power said: “So many people are struggling at the moment and the party needed to better explain to them the difficult decisions that were being taken, and also give them hope that there’s a brighter tomorrow and that’s not coming through as I would like to see it.”
He said a number of people within the party had, in recent days, expressed their concern at the ways things were going. Mr Power said he would support a challenge to Mr Cowen if he thought it was for the benefit of the country but he did foresee it happening in the near future.
Mr Power and other TDs and Senators were invited to a breakfast meeting with Mr Cowen in Government Buildings last week. Mr Power told the Taoiseach that when he took over in 2008 there was great hope for him in the parliamentary party and in the country at large, but two years later, “people are disappointed to varying degrees and some are very disappointed indeed”.
He said Mr Cowen had chosen to do his job “despite” the media rather than taking a positive approach to coverage, and he contrasted his approach unfavourably with that of Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
The Taoiseach’s style of communication had given rise to “disastrous” results for the party in the 2009 local and European elections and it would be “the same in the general election”.
Following his expulsion from the parliamentary party for voting against the stag hunting Bill, Tipperary South TD Mattie McGrath has publicly criticised the Taoiseach and his Green Party coalition colleague John Gormley as “weak leaders”.
Dublin South-Central TD Michael Mulcahy denied last night there was a leadership crisis: “What you are seeing is end-of-term jitters and fatigue at what has been an extremely difficult parliamentary season.”
As of now, four TDs and three Senators have lost the party whip and by Friday the total is expected to rise to at least 10 with Senators Labhrás Ó Murchú, Jim Walsh and John Hanafin seen as likely to vote against the Civil Partnership Bill.
In addition, Cork TD Christy O’Sullivan has indicated he may vote against the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill. However, neither of the Bills is in jeopardy as Fine Gael and the Labour Party are backing civil partnership and Labour is also expected to support the dog breeding legislation.
Dublin Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews has tabled a motion for the parliamentary party meeting opposing proposals for a property tax.