The Fine Gael justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy, has called for the restoration of Mr Michael Noonan to the frontbench in a bid to halt the party's sliding fortunes in the opinion polls.
He has also criticised the performance of some of his party colleagues and has warned Labour not to take Fine Gael for granted, insisting he personally would not support a future coalition deal on just any terms.
Mr Noonan resigned as party leader in the aftermath of last year's election, and has since maintained a low profile in the Dáil. Relations with Mr Enda Kenny were strained after Mr Noonan consigned Mr Kenny to the backbenches following Mr Noonan's victory in the contest between the two men to replace Mr John Bruton in 2001.
Mr Deasy, who represents Waterford, told The Irish Times yesterday that some members of the party's frontbench and parliamentary party were not pulling their weight. "People cannot expect Enda Kenny to do everything. It is time to bring Michael Noonan back and, also, give frontbench roles to David Stanton and Jim O'Keeffe," he added. Mr Stanton, deputy spokesman on education, is a TD for Cork East, while Mr O'Keeffe, who represents Cork South West, is a former junior minister and senior frontbench spokesman. Mr Deasy's remarks follow last Friday's opinion poll in The Irish Times, which revealed that Labour had overtaken Fine Gael as the second-largest party, with a substantial surge in support to 22 per cent, while Fine Gael has fallen to 20 per cent.
It is understood that Mr Deasy spoke in strong terms at last week's parliamentary party meeting about the need for Fine Gael to take a strong stand on issues such as the introduction of measures to curb alcohol abuse. This provoked a critical response from some of his colleagues.
While declining to comment on this yesterday, he said that it was time for the party to show more conviction and courage on issues, even at the risk of making unpopular policy decisions.
"Fine Gael must be a party with clear convictions. I would like to know why some members of the parliamentary party are in politics in the first place."
Mr Deasy said The Irish Times opinion poll had provided Labour with a great boost.
"However, apart from Pat Rabbitte and a few others, there are not that many star performers in its parliamentary party," he added.
He said suggestions that Fine Gael was "dying to get into bed with Labour" were untrue.
"There are people in the party who are utterly unconvinced about the merits of sharing power with Labour after the next election. Personally, I would be against going into power with Labour at just any cost. It would have to be on the basis of a policy platform acceptable to both parties," he said.
Asked about suggestions made privately by some Labour sources that Mr Rabbitte would have to be the nominee for Taoiseach, irrespective of the parties' numerical strength, Mr Deasy said: "I think some people in Labour are getting a little ahead of themselves."
Meanwhile, the Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Billy Timmins, yesterday warned the "political undertakers" predicting the party's demise to "get stuffed". He said that while the party would have preferred a better result in the opinion poll, its most important aspect was the level of dissatisfaction with the Government.
"Fine Gael has spent the past 12 months regrouping and reorganising," he added. "The necessary structures are now in place to build a real and credible alternative to this untrustworthy Government."
Writing in The Irish Times today, the party's spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Gay Mitchell, says that when Fine Gael, "all of us, not just the leader and the frontbench", stood by its ethos, recovery would follow.
"If we do not have within the party sufficient credible new candidates offering to run, we must look outside the party for able people to carry the Fine Gael banner," he adds. "This is why being clear about our ethos is imperative. If we want people to carry the banner, they must know what that banner stands for."
