Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen announced on Sunday that he will remain as the leader of the governing Fianna Fáil party, the Irish Times reported.After two days of consultation, Cowen said that resigning would lead to confusion and a loss of authority. " "For Fianna Fáil the party is important but the interests of the country are paramount," Cowen said. "No. I made no indication of resigning at any time as leader of the party."
Despite demands for him to step down, Cowen added that he plans to table a motion of confidence in his leadership at Tuesday's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting.
Under the party rules, a leader would only face a vote on the leadership if a parliamentary party member put forward a motion of no confidence. Cowen will put forward the motion himself.
The premier has been highly criticized for his handling of Ireland's debt crisis and his contacts with former Anglo Irish Bank boss Sean FitzPatrick, who has been the subject of a police investigation.
Under pressure, Cowen revealed the names of two other business chiefs who joined him and Mr FitzPatrick for a post-golf match dinner - Gary McGann, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa, who was a director of Anglo at the time, and Alan Gray, an economist appointed to the Central Bank board by Mr Cowen.
"All members of the parliamentary party acknowledge my good faith in relation to all of these issues. My standing in the party is not under question in any way," Cowen said, rejecting that his contacts were at issue.
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