Fianna Fáil party members call for emergency party meeting as taoiseach Brian Cowen denies claims he was drunk on air

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

The Irish prime minister, Brian Cowen, is under mounting pressure to stand down after allegations that he was under the influence of alcohol during a live radio interview last week.

Former ministers and backbenchers in the taoiseach's ruling Fianna Fáil party are demanding an emergency parliamentary party meeting to discuss his leadership.

The demand for a debate comes amid continuing fallout from Cowen's disastrous performance on RTÉ radio – after which it was claimed the taoiseach had been inebriated on air.

During the nine-minute interview Cowen stumbled over his words and at one stage mistakenly referred to a national pay deal hammered out between the government and trade unions this year as the "Good Friday agreement" – the peace deal secured in Northern Ireland 12 years ago.

One Irish opposition politician, Fine Gael's Simon Coveney posted an allegation on Twitter that Cowen had been "halfway between drunk and hungover and totally disinterested".

Cowen has endured stinging criticism for going on the Morning Ireland programme after a Fianna Fáil meeting in Galway. There were allegations that Cowen stayed up until 4am at a party in the hotel where the conference was being held.

Asked afterwards if he had been under the influence of alcohol on air, Cowen replied: "I'm sorry, absolutely not. I mean, that's ridiculous. It's not true at all. Please."

The Fianna Fáil leader has been accused of failing to sell the government's message that it needs to take harsh cost-cutting measures to reduce the country's deficit and turn the economy around.

Even some of Cowen's supporters in the Irish media, such as columnist and film maker Eoghan Harris, criticised the taoiseach at the weekend for failing to communicate with the Irish people. Harris said if Cowen didn't improve his public relations he should consider standing down.

There were further problems for Cowen's administration after an opinion poll published today found that more than 70% of people believed the government's handling of the Irish recession had been "very poor".

Meanwhile former junior foreign minister Tom Kitt said Fianna Fáil members of parliament needed to meet soon to discuss the controversy and Cowen's leadership.

At the weekend the brother of finance minister Brian Lenihan suggested Fianna Fáil may need a new leader. However, Lenihan rejected his brother Conor's call and pointed out that he had a job to do in sorting out Ireland's recession and the forthcoming budget.

Lenihan said that there was no vacancy for the top job and that the taoiseach had his full support.

If Fianna Fáil removed Cowen, a general election in which the party could sustain heavy losses would probably follow.

• This article was amended on Tuesday 21 September. A parody of the interview was wrongly embedded in the original article. This has now been replaced with the actual interview.