Fianna Fáil TD John Connolly has declined to explicitly confirm his confidence in the leadership of Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
He said that his party would have to consider “any impediment” to rebuilding the confidence of the public.
Speaking to the Advertiser, the Galway West TD criticised the government for its lack of communication with the general public, industry, and backbench politicians following the recent fuel protests across the country last week.
When asked if he had confidence in the Taoiseach’s leadership, Deputy Connolly said: “Would I be confident in his leadership? I won’t be going any further on this; I think what we need to do is rebuild the confidence of the public” .
“The personalities are kind of irrelevant, but if there’s an impediment to rebuilding the confidence of the public, we’ll have to look at it.
“We have to rebuild the confidence of the public and if there are issues around that they have to be examined.”
Deputy Connolly was also asked if the Taoiseach’s leadership was being questioned by Fianna Fáil representatives on the backbenches.
“Certainly the public are talking about that, the media are talking about that. Nobody has discussed it with me, any issue of a change of leadership at this particular moment.”
“The government is under pressure, there’s no doubt about it.”
Deputy Connolly also criticised the Fianna Fáil leadership for what he described as a “dissapointing” level of engagement with the party’s backbenchers in recent days. He said there had been a “chorus” of criticism directed at the Taoiseach on Monday during a parliamentary party meeting.
“It was disappointing. I said to the Taoiseach at our parliamentary party meeting on Monday: it was disappointing. I wasn’t alone saying that, there was a chorus of that.”
“There were efforts made on behalf of some of our backbenchers last week to have a parliamentary party meeting, and it never occurred. Again, that was a majorly disappointing aspect of what evolved over the last week.”
Deputy Connolly also said that there was a “communications failure” from government. He suggested that had fuel duty cuts in the fiscal package announced last Sunday been expressed earlier, much of the chaos from the fuel protests could have been avoided.
“There was a communications failure here I believe between government and people, between government and governing parties. And look, I think that contributed to what happened.
“The package they put together, that couldn’t have been put together over two nights. Significant accounting and significant fiscal changes have been made and they would have taken time to complete and put together.
“I think had we made some announcement like that, during the week, certainly we would have gotten a greater degree of patience from the protesting public.”
The Taoiseach has also come under pressure from Galway East TD Albert Dolan.
Deputy Dolan, along with fellow Fianna Fáil TDs James O’Connor and Ryan O’Meara, signed an open letter posted on social media on Wednesday criticising the party leadership.
“Today we find senior colleagues expect us to just explain their government difficulties to our communities. That is not the role we want, nor will we accept it any longer,” the letter stated.
“The policies we back in the Dáil must produce results felt in homes, schools, and workplaces across the country. We are committed to working with our Oireachtas colleagues, young and old alike, to restore the trust and connection that once defined Fianna Fáil’s relationship with the Irish people.”
