Taoiseach Micheál Martin has shrugged off a possible heave within Fianna Fáil and said he is “very clear” about his position.
It comes as a group of 29 TDs and Senators met without Government Ministers and without the knowledge of Mr Martin to discuss the future of the party due to fears the electorate is unaware of the party’s identity.
Mr Martin said: “I think my focus has to be on the key issues facing the Irish people and I remain very focused.
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“The immediate focus being the budget and the cost of living package. People are under huge pressure out there at the moment in our society.
“Households are under pressure. That's where all politicians focus should be.
“I don't think Irish people would take too to people navel-gazing or internal analysis when very serious issues have to be dealt with and so my entire energy and focus is on the cost of living package and the budget right up to the end of September.
“And wider issues then, in terms of the war on Ukraine, the migration pressures that it is causing, the refugee pressures that's causing, the energy issue from now to the end of the year.”
When asked if he believed he had enough TDs on his side to hold off a heave which could see him step aside as party leader, Mr Martin, speaking from Tokyo, said he’s not hearing from his parliamentary party about a major push for him to go."
He denied he was being dismissive of TDs' concerns about the future of the party and said “it is no big mystery to me to the identity of Fianan Fáil and what it's all about.
“In terms of policy substance, you know, we're very focused on the climate issue, very focused on housing and the budget, we'll have further issues around housing and the health service in the budget.
“So we have to focus on that and we have to focus on the budget in terms of making sure that a combination of tax expenditure allocations, a cost of living package, pay issues, they all need to be resolved before the end of September to make sure that collectively as a country we can deal with a very serious range of issues that are facing us because of the combination of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.”
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