WITH CRUNCH TALKS currently underway to bring the fuel protests to an end, Fianna Fáil backbenchers have been privately voicing their frustration over how the situation has been handled by the government. 

One Fianna Fáil backbencher told The Journal today that parliamentary party members are feeling “fucked off and fucked over”.

“The tail is wagging the dog at this stage,” they said, adding that the mood in the party is one of “worry” over how things are being handled at senior government level.

After four representatives from the protest were dramatically refused access to today’s meeting between the government and industry bodies, the temperature of the protest went up a notch and now shows no sign of abating as we head into the weekend.

Soundings from within the meeting are that farming and haulage groups have been informed that a government support package is ready, but that its announcement is being held back until the blockades come to an end.

One Fianna Fáil parliamentary party member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Journal that the protest representatives should have been let into this afternoon’s meeting. 

The individual also expressed frustration over how government leadership has engaged with those protesting across the country.

“Backbenchers should have been utilised to engage with the communities we represent and used as a back channel,” the public representative said.

Other party members have been happy to publicly voice their criticism of the government’s approach. 

Yesterday, Fianna Fáil TD for Laois, Seán Fleming, posted a video to social media calling for a fuel cap to be put in place – a move the government has said will not happen.

pic.twitter.com/Xg1v0ZS2GW

— Seán Fleming (@SeanFlemingTD) April 9, 2026

Elsewhere, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork East, James O’Connor (who has never been shy in his criticism of government or party leadership) took to X to say that Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon was “wrong” to “attack” protesters when he said it was a choice between “democracy and anarchy”.

“Sadly, the cost of living has driven many to the edge financially…We must and can do better. It’s time to get around a table and negotiate to put an end to disruption,” O’Connor said. 

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil TD in Cork North Central, Pádraig O’Sullivan, stopped by the protest at the Whitegate refinery yesterday and similarly called for the government to engage with the protesters – something it has repeatedly refused to do.

Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan has come here to Whitegate Refinery and is chatting to the protestors. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/zIn3Hjk5Qt

— Niall O’Connor (@NiallJournal_ie) April 9, 2026

“We’re at a point here [where] it’s crucial that people get around the table,” O’Sullivan told The Journal.

His comments came as government leaders continued to ratchet up criticism of the protesters.

Just a short while before O’Sullivan spoke to The Journal, Fianna Fáil Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan told reporters at a press conference that protesters were being “manipulated by outside actors”, specifically UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson. 

His comments did nothing to turn down the heat of the protest.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended the goverment’s stance of speaking only to established representative bodies and not the protesters. 

“Unelected and self-appointed people can’t determine who gets oil in this country, can’t determine who gets to hospital,” he said.

The disquiet that is rumbling in the party comes only a few short months after the party’s disastrous presidential election campaign, when its nominee Jim Gavin pulled out of the race after revelations about his time as a landlord.

That fiasco hugely undermined backbenchers’ confidence in party leader Micheál Martin. 

While he managed to draw a line under the ordeal at the time, some of the internal unhappiness with his leadership is now rising to the surface again as this fuel protest continues. 

That said, party insiders say no knives are being sharpened just yet. 

“There are far bigger things at stake here,” one TD said.