Sharp divisions have opened up between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, following Fianna Fáil's major defeat in the European Parliament and local elections.
The performance of the Government will be criticised tonight by members of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party when they meet in Leinster House.
But the party's TDs - still reeling from the weekend losses - will refrain tonight from direct criticism of the Taoiseach, or at least from direct criticism of him in public after the meeting.
Unhappy with her party's performance, the Progressive Democrat leader and Tánaiste, Ms Mary Harney, said the electorate has shown that it feels "let down" by the Government. But her recipe for reviving the Government's fortunes is fundamentally opposed by senior Fianna Fáil backbenchers who spoke yesterday to The Irish Times.
Urging faster reforms of Aer Rianta and Dublin Bus, and the health service, Ms Harney said it was "urgent" that the Cabinet "reshuffle its approach" to some "tough decisions, but nonetheless important ones.
"If we got this result on the basis of having made tough decisions it would have been an awful lot better than having this result on making no decisions," she declared.
Noting, in particular, the Government's plan to break up Aer Rianta, she went on: "There are some key areas where we have shown an incapacity in recent times to make the kind of decisions that can deliver change."
Her comments provoked highly-regarded Fianna Fáil Cavan/Monaghan TD, Mr Brendan Smith, to say: "I was glad to hear that the Tánaiste had spoken about the need for some changes in Government policy.
"The change that we need most and that we need now is less Progressive Democrat policy and that is a view that is widely shared throughout Fianna Fáil by elected representatives and others.
"Fianna Fáil has to drive and implement policies that reflect the views of the people who support us," said Mr Smith, who is tipped for higher office in the September Cabinet reshuffle.
Accepting the scale of the defeat, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said: "There is no doubt about it, it was a bad election for us, there is no doubt about that, the people have spoken." But adopting a noticeably different line to the Tánaiste, he said that some of the Government's existing policies "are not liked" and that they had cost Fianna Fáil heavily in working-class constituencies.
An early signal of the impact of the elections on the Government will be seen from its handling of the Aer Rianta reforms, which are expected to be discussed by the Cabinet today.
Promoted by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, and strongly supported by the PDs, the break-up plan has met with strong opposition from the Department of Finance. The Taoiseach's decision to carry out his Cabinet reshuffle in September and not immediately could force disgruntled Fianna Fáil deputies to judge their words of criticism carefully.
Three Cabinet members, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, and the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, yesterday all strongly supported the Taoiseach.
Downplaying the outcome of the elections, Mr McCreevy said: "I suppose one could anticipate that after seven years of power, people would take the opportunity to give the Government a bit of a kicking."
Insisting that there is "absolutely no question" about Mr Ahern's leadership, Mr McCreevy said nobody in the party is "making his leadership an issue", while too much significance should not be read into the results. Describing Mr Ahern as "superb", the Minister for Health pointedly referred to the need for extra Exchequer funding to open up already-built hospital wings, nursing homes and care units.
However, a succession of Fianna Fáil backbenchers have privately told The Irish Times that health spending will have to rise, and better services delivered, though they remain wary about the political fall-out from the Hanly Report.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael, having exceeded its 1999 local election seats tally, was hoping for a further boost last night in the European election with the prospect that outgoing MEP, Ms Avril Doyle could take a second seat in the East constituency. Earlier, Fine Gael's Mr Jim Higgins, Fianna Fáil's Mr Seán Ó Neachtain and Independent Ms Marian Harkin were elected in the North West.
