Ahern to hold one-to-one meetings to ease backbencher dissent

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is to hold individual meetings with disgruntled backbenchers next week in a bid to quell internal dissent in the wake of Fianna Fáil’s poor performance in last month’s local and European elections.

Mr Ahern admitted there was a lot of “organisational work” to be done and said Fianna Fáil had a real battle on its hands to improve support for the party before the next general election.

However, with his spell as European president successfully concluded, Mr Ahern said he could concentrate on domestic matters and that the parliamentary party had already held a number of meetings to discuss the issue.