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The public is losing confidence in the Government and will not put up with the current coalition much longer, the Fine Gael parliamentary party has been warned.
Former minister for rural affairs Michael Ring delivered a stinging criticism of the Government’s handling of the pandemic and told his party on Wednesday night that people are “sick and tired of us”.
Sources at the meeting said Mr Ring said the Government had failed on testing, vaccines and communications. He warned that people had lost confidence in the Government, it is understood.
Mr Ring said the Government had caused confusion with mixed messages. He described the Government as having had a “bad few weeks”, and said: “We have a problem”.
The public was losing hope, which was a problem, he told the meeting.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan is also understood to have described Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s performance over the last weekend as “appalling” amid significant anger at the meeting. He said the Fine Gael membership was “livid”.
Seanad leader Regina Doherty warned that Fine Gael was in danger of losing the trust of the people while MEP Frances Fitzgerald questioned the communications plans.
Party leader and Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told the meeting recent criticisms of the Government’s communications around Covid-19 were “justified” and would be taken on board.
The Government this week unveiled a refreshed framework for Living with Covid-19, A Path Forward, but the days preceding its launch were marked by confusion around what restrictions would lifted and when.
In terms of vaccinations generally, sources said Mr Varadkar told the meeting the European Commission had a chance to “redeem itself” by potentially being amongst the first to approve the Johnson&Johnson vaccine and the Curevac vaccine.
He said Ireland was telling the EU not to “waste any time”. The Fine Gael leader said the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) will look at moving carers up the vaccine priority list as part of their next review which will happen in a few weeks.
The Fine Gael meeting on Wednesday evening heard claims that gardaí are being abused at coronavirus checkpoints and that the some members of the public are breaking restrictions out of frustration with the Government.
Sources at the meeting said that former minister for housing Eoghan Murphy said people were breaking restrictions with a different “intent” than previously as if to say “Government be damned”. He is understood to have warned that the next six weeks will be marked by frustration from the public.
The “lack of metrics” in the new Government plan were also described as “disappointing” by Mr Murphy.
Mr Murphy also said the move to mass antigen testing could also be a game-changer, sources said.
Cork South West Senator Tim Lombard is understood to have told the meeting that the public was at a low ebb and gardaí at checkpoints were receiving increased abuse over the last number of days. He is understood to have said that the public were losing patience at “mixed messages”.
Limerick TD and Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan also said that a “whole of Government” strategy was needed for communicating issues around Covid-19.
He also spoke about the vaccination programme and called on Fine Gael to “make more noise” at a European level to ensure a greater supply of vaccines.