TAOISEACH, Brian Cowen told nervous Fianna Fail backbenchers last night that he fully intends to continue in office for the next three years and lead the party into the next general election.
Addressing the Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting Mr Cowen acknowledged that the results of the local and European elections represented a severe setback but told his TDs that it was time to revitalise the party and make it “fit for purpose”.
Speaking after the four-and-a-half hour meeting party chief whip Pat Carey said there had been no criticism of the Taoiseach during the meeting at which 36 of the 93 TDs and Senators present spoke.
“We are down but not out,” said Mr Carey who added that there had been an acknowledgement by speakers that there was “a lot of anger our there.”
He said the Taoiseach had given a commitment that they would rebuild the party and make it a campaigning organisation that was robust and relevant.
Mr Carey said the Taoiseach had pointed out that in the past Seán Lemass and Jack Lynch had rebuilt the party after electoral setbacks and it was now time to do the same again.
He added that a mention of a reshuffle had been made by one of the speakers during the meeting, in the context of modernising the party organisation, Government departments and the public service.
Mr Cowen spoke at the beginning and again at the end of the meeting which ended shortly after 10pm.
Earlier it emerged that Fianna Fail and Green Ministers will begindiscussions later this week on the review of their programme for government, a Government spokesman said yesterday.
The review is expected to take a few months so that the reports of the Commission on Taxation and “An Bord Snip” can be taken into consideration.
A Green Party spokesman said that a process of internal consultation would begin among the party’s some 2,000 or so members before any decision was made on future strategy.
“It is in their hands,” said the spokesman, who added that no decision had been made about on whether a national conference of the party could be called to approve the revised programme for government.
A spokesman for Minister for Health Mary Harney said that any revised Government programme would have to be approved by her.
Independent TD, Michael Lowry, said yesterday that he wanted to meet the Taoiseach to discuss the deal that had guaranteed his support for the Government over the past two years.
But he acknowledged that, so far, the deal for his North Tipperary constituency had been met.
Opening the debate of confidence in the Dáil yesterday, Mr Cowen rejected Opposition calls for an immediate general election.
He added that the proposals put forward by the Government to deal with the country’s problems since last May had been opposed by Fine Gael and Labour.
“On the one hand, Fine Gael is suggesting we should be spending less, the Labour Party is on the other hand suggesting we should be spending more. At the end of the day, we have brought forward a plan. We have brought forward proposals as to how we are going to get out of this problem,” he said.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, said that the Government had no mandate or authority to continue to govern because the people have rejected it.
“Almost three-quarters of the Irish people, by their decision last Friday, cast a verdict of no confidence in the Taoiseach and his Government to sort out the problems of the country. It was an historic day in many ways because it broke the dominance of the Fianna Fáil party in Irish politics for the first time in 77 years,” Mr Kenny said.
Labour leader, Eamon Gilmore, asked how the Dáil could vote confidence in Fianna Fáil when the people had voted against the party.
“The verdict of the people is clear. They do not have confidence in Fianna Fáil and the Greens, and they want them out of Government.”
