DISAFFECTED FIANNA FÁIL backbench TD Noel O’Flynn has said tonight’s meeting of the Fianna Faíl parliamentary party will be a “bare-knuckle affair”.

RTÉ news reports that O’Flynn claims to be “sick of having to face people”, and that had felt “humiliated, betrayed and frustrated” after he was not kept briefed about the extent of Ireland’s discussions with the IMF and European Union.

The Green Party had “pulled out” of government for that exact reason, O’Flynn said, believing they had become frustrated at being “kept in the dark”.

O’Flynn, a TD for Cork North-Central, said he would be would signing a motion of no confidence in the leadership of Brian Cowen, to be presented to tonight’s meeting of the parliamentary party.

O’Flynn will be among a number of backbench Fianna Fáil TDs meeting to discuss a strategy for removing Cowen as the leader of the party in advance of the Fianna Fáil meeting.

Cowen and the government had been “in denial for a number of weeks” about the country’s future, he said, meaning that the matter of the party’s leadership was now an urgent concern.

Former government chief whip, Tom Kitt, has already called on Cowen to table a motion of confidence in himself, hoping to put an end to speculation over the leadership of the party.

Kitt this afternoon, however, said he was not taking part in any collection of signatures.

This morning tourism minister Mary Hanafin said that while she would not be party to a heave, she would be interested in taking over the leadership when it next comes available.