Fine Gael TDs Mr JIM Mitchell and Mr Michael Noonan told a press conference yesterday that they will table a motion of no confidence in the party leader, Mr John Bruton.
Mr Mitchell began by reading a statement on behalf of himself and Mr Noonan. It said that, following extensive consultation within the Fine Gael parliamentary party and with the party's wider membership, they had decided to table a motion of no confidence in Mr Bruton. They would put this motion to next Wednesday's meeting of the parliamentary party.
"Before making this decision we reflected carefully on all the issues and as a result we are both agreed, as indeed are many of our colleagues, that Fine Gael needs a new beginning," he said.
This should be a time of unprecedented support for their party, given the succession of scandals associated with Fianna Fail and its manifest failure to bring about social justice or to tackle major economic bottlenecks.
"It is painfully clear that we are failing to connect with large sections of the electorate and this, we believe, is in large measure due to John Bruton's style of leadership. Furthermore, we are failing in our democratic duty to provide a viable alternative to the current administration.
"What is not openly known is that the present style of leadership lacks genuine consultation both with the front bench and the parliamentary party on major policy matters and on party business.
"Fine Gael has a wide range of talent at its disposal that is not being properly utilised, as motivation and team work are not features of John Bruton's leadership style."
Political parties increasingly depended on their leader to communicate with the public in modern politics, he said. Often a party was exclusively identified with the persona of its leader. The chief executive of any company or the manager of any football team that had endured such persistently poor results would have resigned voluntarily by now.
"We are jointly presenting the Fine Gael party with a credible, effective and dynamic alternative, which will release the full potential of the party.
"When the motion of no confidence is passed it will be a matter for the parliamentary party to choose the new leader. We will both offer ourselves for election as leader and we realise that other deputies may also wish to contest the vacancy.
"If either of us becomes leader, we will offer the deputy leadership to the other," the statement concluded.
Mr Noonan then addressed the press conference.
"For the last while, certainly stretching back over 12 months or indeed longer, at meetings of the party all around the country, party members have been expressing no confidence in the leadership and have been asking for an alternative," he said.
It was getting to the stage now where it was difficult to find party members who supported the present leader.
"You might ask me why, when Austin Deasy put down a vote of no confidence, we didn't avail of the opportunity to act then. It was very simple. Austin Deasy caught everybody on the hop and I met more people after Austin Deasy's confidence motion was dealt with who regretted a missed opportunity and said if they had known, on the one hand, and if there had been an alternative presented, on the other, then they would have voted differently because they believe change is necessary," Mr Noonan said.
He said that a clear majority of their colleagues "are in support of the action we're taking".