Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is tonight expected to agree to the establishment of a new Fianna Fáil backbenchers-led policy group, following complaints from some TDs that their opinions are being ignored.
The biggest attendance in over a year is expected at the meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party in Leinster House, which begins at 5.30pm.
Last Friday, The Irish Times disclosed that 16 TDs, including several committee chairs, had signed a letter calling for the creation of a new internal group. However, the secrecy that surrounded the planning, and the fact that most TDs were not approached directly, has angered some backbenchers.
"Some people are upset that nobody bothered to tell them what they were doing. Some of them see this as an elitist group, with some of them thinking that they are the intellectual wing of Fianna Fáil," one TD complained.
One of the leaders of the demand for a greater input by backbenchers, Carlow/Kilkenny TD, John McGuinness, said: "I am taking the Taoiseach at his word last Friday that he would clear the way for this."
Acknowledging that the early disclosure caused serious problems, he said: "But that is the nature of politics. Sometimes you have to rescue the message. None of us were happy with the way that it was pre-empted."
However, some of the 16 TDs, including Meath's Johnny Brady, Laois/Offaly's John Moloney and Dublin North West's Pat Carey, who signed the letter, drafted by Mr McGuinness and Dublin North TD, Jim Glennon, are privately dissatisfied at the way matters were handled since.
On Friday, the Taoiseach, who was privately infuriated by the action led by Mr McGuinness, agreed to address backbenchers' concerns when he speaks to tonight's meeting.
A number of TDs privately said they expected the Taoiseach to "kill the idea with kindness", though they did not rule out the possibility that Mr McGuinness and others could face face-to-face criticism from backbench colleagues today. Most believed that a committee of some form would have to be created.
