The leadership of Taoiseach Brian Cowen will not face a direct challenge at tonight’s meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, according to a representative cross-section of the party’s TDs.
However, Mr Cowen will face some harsh criticism for his perceived failures to communicate the reasons behind the Government's tough policy measures.
The criticism will not be confined to the party's most prominent "dissidents" – John McGuinness, Noel O'Flynn and Seán Power – but will also be voiced by some of his strongest supporters among its TDs and Senators.
A discussion on Fianna Fáil's poor showing in recent opinion polls, including a historically low 17 per cent in last month's Irish Times poll, has been on the agenda for several weeks, but was postponed because of Fine Gael's internal difficulties and the animal welfare controversy last week.
Party general secretary Seán Dorgan will make a presentation analysing the data. Mr Cowen is also expected to address the meeting, the last before the summer recess.
Mr Dorgan has also arranged a separate meeting with the party's Dublin TDs tomorrow to discuss its very poor support levels in the capital.
While Mr Cowen's leadership will not be challenged, a number of TDs were openly critical yesterday of his media performances. A few TDs also said his position would be less secure if an obvious challenger emerged.
Yesterday, Mr Power reiterated his weekend criticism of Mr Cowen saying he was very disappointed with his performance as Taoiseach.
Speaking on local station KFM, in Co Kildare, he said Mr Cowen, through communication failures, was not giving people hope and leadership.
Asked if he would support a challenge, Mr Power said: "If it was for the benefit of the country, I would support it."
Mr O'Flynn said that a leadership challenge had "crossed the minds" of many party members, including Ministers.
Mr Cowen dismissed the criticisms of Mr Power and Mr O'Flynn and signalled they were not representative of the wider party. The party, he said, had "been extraordinarily disciplined in my opinion and been prepared to take on and support these difficult measures that we've had to implement in various budgets".
Mr Cowen, speaking at Farmleigh, said he intended to continue as Taoiseach. "My job is to continue to lead the party in that effort and that's what I intend to do," he said.
Mr Cowen won strong support from most TDs contacted by The Irish Times.
Cork East TD Ned O'Keeffe said there was no challenge to the party and criticised colleagues for "creating unnecessary trouble" by bringing up the leadership issue.
The Kildare South TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl echoed that view. "We cannot be undermining the leader. In doing that we are decreasing the Government's capacity to deal with the economy," he said.
"I am obviously concerned about the polls but supportive of the leader. I would like to see the leader communicate more effectively than he is doing," said Mr Ó Fearghaíl.
Dublin South East TD Chris Andrews said he was not convinced there was any point in public discontent when there was no clear alternative to Mr Cowen.
"It's a distraction until such time," he said.
"[Mr Cowen] needs to get out and about into community centres, GAA clubs and take the flak and listen to people because listening is an important part of leadership."
For his part, Galway East TD Michael Kitt said that low showings in opinion polls needed to be discussed. He also criticised the communications strategy.
"It's a question of how we get to get our message across. We are not convincing people out there about our success with the big issues."
Westmeath TD Mary O'Rourke fully backed Mr Cowen, but said that his press office had major communications difficulties which, among other things, had led to the present "crescendo of disturbance".
On Mr Cowen, she said: "I know the style of the guy. He is not into blurring or he is not into softening things."
Longford TD Peter Kelly, Niall Collins of Limerick East, and Cork North West TD Michael Moynihan were others who expressed unequivocal support for Mr Cowen.