Fine Gael's Enda Kenny has said he is “most certainly not” considering his position as party leader.
Mr Kenny was responding for the first time to the Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll, published yesterday, that recorded a 3 per cent drop in Fine Gael support to 24 per cent.
Fianna Fáil drew level with the largest Opposition party for the first time in almost two years.
“I do intend to be the next taoiseach,” Mr Kenny told reporters this morning.
Asked if any party members had come to him urging him to step down as leader, Mr Kenny again replied: “certainly not”.
Mr Kenny said he was “not fixated about any polls”.
Mr Kenny said he expected everybody in his party to “shape up” and provide a better alternative to the current Government. “That's what we're going to do and that's where my focus is.”
He said people were “wild with anger” about the Coalition. People were prepared to play their part in economic recovery provided they were treated with respect and fairness, but the Government was not treating people in this way.
He ruled cross-party support for December's budget or a second “Tallaght Strategy”, which was proposed by businessman Denis O'Brien last night. He said the first Tallaght Strategy was “wonderful” from a national perspective but Fine Gael had lost votes as a consequence.
Mr Kenny was said to have been shocked by the findings of the poll when they emerged during their first parliamentary party meeting of the new Dáil term on Wednesday night.
“For 30 seconds no one said anything. There was shocked silence. It was extraordinary. It was just devastating for him. You could see it on his face,” said one member of the parliamentary party who did not want to be named.
Mr Kenny was visiting an Educate Together school in Donabate, Dublin along with his deputy leader, Dr James Reilly, and education spokesman Fergus O'Dowd.
Meanwhile, former Fine Gael minister Gemma Hussey posted a message on Twitter today calling on Mr Kenny to step down.
"From Bratislava - will no one tell Enda (a good and decent man) to go quietly and gracefully? A new energetic team needed. (keep Ml Noonan)," she wrote.
