Tánaiste row simmers on as FF support slides by 5%

TÁNAISTE Mary Coughlan flew to the Saudi Arabian desert yesterday leaving a storm of controversy over her ability to manage the Department of Enterprise.

As she left for the trade mission, party colleagues came to her defence and criticised the comments of John McGuinness, the sacked junior minister who told the Late Late Show she was not able to run the department.

This weekend he continued his broadside against Ms Coughlan, party leadership and the Government as a Sunday Business Post opinion poll showed support for Fianna Fáil had fallen 5% in a month, from 28%.