Fianna Fáil backbenchers insist meeting will go ahead

A group of Fianna Fáil backbenchers who want to have more input into the party's election manifesto have said they will meet next week.

Reports in newspapers this morning suggested that the meeting had been called off following assurances from the Taoiseach.

But Cork TD Noel O'Flynn, who’s a member of the new committee, says the meeting will go ahead at some stage next week.

The 16 TDs in question are concerned that certain issues that they want addressed are being ignored.

Deputy O'Flynn says he's determined to see this through

“Even if the committee is a committee of two or if it ends up of a committee of six or thirty or forty,” he said. “I want a forum where I can debate issues and where I can put forward issues on behalf of the people I'm elected to represent.”