Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said he is planning a diplomatic initiative to win support for the renegotiation of the terms attached to bailout loans from the IMF and Europe.
Mr Gilmore said he will hold a series of briefings for ambassadors next week before holding face-to-face talks with his counterparts.
Embassies across Europe have also been ordered to get the message out that Ireland is taking dramatic steps to rebuild its banking sector.
“One of the things that has certainly come to my attention since I have been Minister for Foreign Affairs is the degree to which Ireland has lost political support in Europe,” the Tánaiste said.
Mr Gilmore also accepted that “the shine” has gone off Ireland.
“There will be a co-ordinated diplomatic drive by Ireland to win political support for the discussions we are having with the European Central Bank and the European Union (EU),” he said.
“To date one of the things we have discovered is the lack of that political support, the degree to which Ireland has lost its place and lost its respect and lost the kind of support and solidarity that we used to enjoy in the EU.”
Mr Gilmore said the new Government was going to “put that right”.
The diplomatic offensive begins this week as a delegation from the IMF arrives to check Ireland’s progress under the terms of last autumn’s €85 billion bailout deal.
The Government has faced criticism since the final bank bailout bill was unveiled last Thursday as €70 billion.
The Opposition claims the Government parties have reneged on election commitments to force a cut in interest rates for IMF-EU money.
The accusations were rejected by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, and also the Tánaiste.
Mr Gilmore said the meetings will be the first stage in a wider plan to seek a reduction on the interest rate.
After the talks with ambassadors in Dublin it is understood he intends to travel to European capitals as part of the goodwill initiative.
There will be further intense efforts when Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Mr Noonan hold a series of bilateral meetings with their counterparts in coming weeks.
One report from the European summit in Brussels last month claimed that demands for an interest rate cut fell on deaf ears, with German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy unhappy with the Irish approach.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald accused Labour of unwinding its election manifesto in government.
"Labour went into the election with the battle cry of Labour’s way or Frankfurt’s way,” she said.
“The announcement of €24 billion more for defunct banks and burden sharing being taken off the table at the behest of Europe show’s clearly that it is in fact Frankfurt’s way despite the election promises of Eamon Gilmore and the Labour Party.”
PA