Fianna Fáil TD Sean Power has said Brian Cowen will resign from his post as Taoiseach once the budget has been delivered.
Commenting on last night's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting, the Kildare South deputy said the Taoiseach "at no stage" indicated he had any intention to lead Fianna Fáil into the next election.
"My view still remains that he has lost credibility. The people of this country have [had] enough of him..He has had an opportunity as Taoiseach and has failed and I don't think he is the right person to be leading us into the next election," Mr Power told Kildare radio station KFM.
"It is my understanding that shortly after the budget he will tender his resignation," Mr Power said.
The former junior minister said Mr Cowen "realises the game is up".
"He was Minister for Finance for the period when most of the difficulties arose, and we're experiencing the fallout from that right now. The country is in such a mess. At some stage you have to put your hands up", he said.
Mr Power also accused the Taoiseach of not accepting responsibility for the economic situation.
"He hasn't shown any great humility in accepting responsibility or indeed apologising to the people for the mess we're in. He [is] continually very defensive over the actions that he has taken and its quite obvious that even in relation to banking that we haven't succeeded.
"A lot of promises were made, and even at European level where we have done projections in relation to the banking crisis and the adjustments we've had to make in relation to the budget. They've been underestimated each time", Mr Power said.
The emphasis during last night's parliamentary party meeting was "very much on the necessity to get full support for the budget and ensure that that's passed," Mr Power said.
He said he believed his Fianna Fáil colleagues felt "it would be too much of a distraction in the short term" if they were to "dwell too much on the leadership". However, he said it was his view that "the vast majority of the Fianna Fáil party do not want him to lead us into the next general election and I am convinced that he will not do so.
"I know from talking to ministers as well that it is the view of many of them that he will not lead us into the next general election."