{"id":400298,"date":"2026-04-15T19:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400298\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:47:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:47:10","slug":"martin-faces-unrest-as-young-fianna-fail-tds-rebuke-coalition-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/400298\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin faces unrest as young Fianna F\u00e1il TDs rebuke Coalition \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fianna F\u00e1il Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin is facing further unrest within his parliamentary party following fuel protests and the resignation of Independent Michael Healy-Rae<\/a> as a Government minister.<\/p>\n

Three young Fianna F\u00e1il TDs were strongly critical of the party\u2019s direction in a statement issued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The TDs \u2013 Cork East\u2019s James O\u2019Connor<\/a>, Galway East\u2019s Albert Dolan<\/a> and Tipperary North\u2019s Ryan O\u2019Meara \u2013 indicated \u201creal and deep concern\u201d with the Government\u2019s response to the fuel price protests of recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Following the release of the statement, the three TDs were backed by former ceann comhairle Se\u00e1n \u00d3 Feargha\u00edl, who said a discussion on the future of the party, including the issue of leadership, should be held within the next fortnight. <\/p>\n

Amid ongoing fallout from the fuel-price protests<\/a> and blockades, and the resignation of Healy-Rae from Government, the move is being seen as a criticism of Martin at a time of growing political pressure on him. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, Dolan and O\u2019Meara said in their statement that \u201cit should not require protests and deep community frustration to get a Government to listen and to act\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"Healy-Raes’ departure caps a terrible week for the Government<\/p>\n

The three TDs \u2013 all aged in their 20s or early 30s \u2013 noted frustration among people of their age, saying that the lesson many of their generation would take from recent events was \u201cthat our politics are not working\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe must face that reality that the social contract is strained to breaking point,\u201d the statement reads, saying many of their peers see \u201cno connection between what happens at the ballot box and what follows in government\u201d.<\/p>\n

The three stopped short of explicitly challenging Martin, saying the intervention is \u201cnot about challenging any individual or singling out any member of Government\u201d but \u201cchallenging ourselves and our party colleagues to do better\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, there is a direct criticism of senior party members: \u201cToo often 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that \u201cour most experienced colleagues share our views\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is further implied criticism for the leadership, saying that reforming the approach within the party is \u201ca task that has been long neglected, and recent events have not helped to repair the damage. The responsibility now lies with us. We will dedicate our efforts in the weeks and months ahead to ensuring that this vital connection takes place and that politics once again serves the people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00d3 Feargha\u00edl gave his backing to the TDs, telling The Irish Times: \u201cI don\u2019t just support them but salute them for their courage and conviction and for setting out what are the fundamental principles of the Fianna F\u00e1il party I joined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00d3 Feargha\u00edl said a conversation was needed about the future of the party, including the leadership, in the next fortnight. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe question of the leadership will have to be decided within the parliamentary party,\u201d he said this afternoon. <\/p>\n

He said it may be that the party backs Martin, but added: \u201cSuch is the anger and the feeling of the people that I think we need to sit down and have a discussion about that now and put it to bed. Within the next two weeks, we need to have a discussion about the future of Fianna F\u00e1il, which of course includes leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThe scale of the damage done in this most recent debacle cannot be overstated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking privately, another TD said, \u201cthere\u2019s a little bit of the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back\u201d when it comes to the events of recent days and Martin\u2019s leadership. <\/p>\n

The TD said they would have been of the view that Martin should be able to hold on as leader until after the State\u2019s EU presidency. But the TD also claimed: \u201cA lot of the Miche\u00e1l Martin loyalists are at the end of their tether.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another TD said of Martin: \u201cI think the last week did damage him [Martin].\u201d But he still has support among some in the \u201cmiddle ground\u201d on the leadership question in the parliamentary party.<\/p>\n

Ellen Coyne looks at the political fallout of the fuel protests and whether government measures will placate the protesters. <\/p>\n

Another Fianna F\u00e1il politician suggested a time of global crisis is not the time to change leader. That party member also spoke of the need for \u201cstability\u201d, but raised concerns about leadership in the party being \u201cfrom the top down\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d wonder what your role is as a backbencher,\u201d added the TD. <\/p>\n

He said the fuel protests had \u201cgalvanised latent anger that\u2019s out there\u201d, adding that last year\u2019s budget \u201cdid absolutely nothing for the squeezed middle\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Fianna F\u00e1il Minister said feelings within the party \u201cmirror the feeling [of the] wider population \u2013 a lot of frustration and anger\u201d and acknowledged that \u201clast week could have been handled better\u201d. <\/p>\n

He said legitimate concerns were raised by most of the people protesting in relation to costs affecting their businesses and the public, but the Government has now intervened a second time with a package of measures aimed at helping. <\/p>\n

The Minister dismissed any questions on Martin\u2019s leadership, saying that his party \u201cneed to show cohesion\u201d and continue work to deliver for the people.<\/p>\n

Another Fianna F\u00e1iler suggested that \u201cthe ground seems to be shifting against him [Martin] … He\u2019s been there 16 years. Everyone has a sell-by date\u201d. <\/p>\n

They were also of the view that any attempt at removing Martin as leader before the Dublin Central and Galway West byelections, scheduled to take place next month, was unlikely. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin is facing further unrest within his parliamentary party following fuel protests and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[176673,943,895,171749,1523,42,176672,1843,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-400298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-albert-dolan","tag-cost-of-living","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fuel-protests","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-james-o-connor","tag-micheal-martin","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}