Fine Gael 'must push for budget wins on tax' despite tension with Fianna Fáil

Tánaiste Micheál Martin strongly criticised three Fine Gael junior ministers who stated in a newspaper op-ed that the budget should include a €1,000 tax cut for workers, a proposal that has been slammed as 'nuts' by senior Fianna Fáil figures. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Fine Gael members have told the Taoiseach that the party must push for its own budget wins on tax despite the tensions it is causing with Fianna Fáil.

Relations between the two main parties have become strained in recent days after three Fine Gael junior ministers — Jennifer Carroll McNeill, Martin Heydon, and Peter Burke — stated in a newspaper op-ed that the budget should include a €1,000 tax cut for workers, a proposal that has been slammed as "nuts" by senior Fianna Fáil figures.